


It's Not Easy

by One_More_Disaster



Series: Go Your Own Way [1]
Category: Fast & Furious (2009), Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: M/M, mentions of inhumane and ethically questionable scientific experiments, mentions of past character death, moderate D/s implications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-12-14
Packaged: 2017-12-13 17:21:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 24,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_More_Disaster/pseuds/One_More_Disaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aside from being an undercover cop, there's more to Brian O'Conner than meets the eye. He's got a few tricks up his sleeve that the FBI doesn't know about. How do those tricks affect the events of "Fast and Furious"?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 01

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** It's Not Easy
> 
> **Disclaimer:** I do not own any person, place or thing you may recognize. I do, however, own Ariana de Luca and Austin Andrews.
> 
> **Rating:** M
> 
> **Spoilers:** _The Fast and the Furious; 2 Fast, 2 Furious;_ and _Fast and Furious_
> 
> **Characters:** Brian O'Conner, Letty Ortiz, Dominic and Mia Toretto and two OCs; with appearances by Braga, Campos, Fenix, Gisele Yashar, Penning, Stasiak, Sophie, David Park and the unnamed drivers from both Dom and Brian's qualifying race and the run; mentions of Vince, Jesse and Agent Bilkins
> 
> **Author's Note:** This is a story that I wrote about two years ago that had been sitting on my hard drive for about a year before I posted it on FF. I recently got hooked on AO3, and decided to post it over here, too.
> 
> It's kinda a crossover between the FatF fandom and a story that I wrote for the 2007 NaNo, which is where the two OCs, Ari and Austin, came from. For that story, I took elements from "Firefly/Serenity" and created my own version. Brian and Ari explain a little bit about it to Letty during the course of the story. If there are any questions about it, just let me know and I'll give a more detailed explanation.
> 
> Anyway, the first movie of the FatF franchise I saw all the way through was Fast Five, and during that movie, I really liked Dom/Elena and Brian/Mia. However, when I went back and started the franchise from the beginning, I fell head over heels in love with Dom/Brian. They are my OTP for the franchise, no matter how much I like Mia.
> 
> At first, I wasn't a huge fan of Letty, but after watching "Fast and Furious", she became one of my favorite characters. Dom doesn't actually show up until about halfway through the story, so the first half is pre-slash, with Brian's crush on Dom reflecting in his thoughts. There is a sex scene between Brian and Letty, which is more just for convenience than any true affection, after which Letty gives Brian permission to go after Dom once they bring him home. I will warn for that at the beginning of that chapter, if you don't want to read a sex scene between the two of them.
> 
> Anyway, the whole story is complete, along with three oneshot sequels, and I am currently working on a chaptered sequel that follows the general plot of "Fast 5", as well as a couple additional oneshots in the same ‘verse. I will post a new chapter every three days.
> 
> Let me know what y’all think.  
> Fae

It's Not Easy

Brian was sitting in his office, slouched back in his chair, as he flipped through the files for his next case. He ran a hand over his face with a sigh. This- was not what he had expected when he had joined the FBI. He had expected more action and adventure. Instead, he had been stuck in the most boring field office on the East Coast.  
  
Four and a half years later, and LA was still haunting him.  
  
He couldn't bring himself to care, however. Even if he could go back, he wouldn't change a thing. Well, he’d move faster that last day and push Jesse out of the way, but he would still have fucked up the case and let Dom walk.  
  
Unfortunately, that's all the brass saw, even after the sting in Miami supposedly cleared his record. It cleared his official record, all right. But Bilkins hadn't said anything about it not clearing his unofficial record.  
  
The phone rang and he tossed the files onto the desk, eagerly. Anything to break up the monotony of his day. "O'Conner," he said into the phone.  
  
There were several seconds of silence before the person on the other end finally spoke up. "Suits you better than Spilner did, at any rate."  
  
Brian's eyes widened and he sat up, changing his grip on the phone and glancing at the door, hoping no one interrupted him. "Tish," he said. "How are you?"  
  
"Fine. How about you? Certainly moving up in the world. FBI is a long way from wanted felon."  
  
Brian felt a wide ass grin stretch across his face, feeling irrationally pleased that she knew about that. The fact that she knew meant that someone had cared enough to find out how he was doing. "Yeah. A lot more boring, though. So, what's up? I know you didn't call just to catch up."  
  
She was silent for a few moments. "I have information."  
  
"Let me guess. It's worth more than just you."  
  
"Damn straight."  
  
He hadn't been expecting anything different. After the clusterfuck that was LA, he knew that the only reason anyone from Dom's crew would call him would be because it would somehow help Dom.  
  
"I can't make any promises, but tell me what you got and I'll see what I can do."  
  
"Drug runner out in LA by the name of Braga. He's been using racers to ferry the product. You owe him, Brian. And I'm cashing in."  
  
"I know, Tish. Believe me, I know. Thing is, four and a half years later, and they still don't trust me. The brass doesn't want me within five hundred miles of LA. You gotta believe me when I say I'll do everything I can."  
  
"I won't run for anyone but you, Buster. You tell them that."  
  
"I will. Look, give me something I can use to convince them. Anything."  
  
She hesitated on the other end and he was afraid that she had hung up. "Rumor has it he was a business partner of Carter Verone's."  
  
"Shit," Brian said, running his hand over his face again.  
  
"From what I understand, they've been in contact."  
  
"Great," he said with a groan. "Look, if that doesn't convince them, nothing will. I'll call you as soon as I have something."  
  
"I won't do it for me."  
  
"I know, Tish. I'll make sure they understand it's all or nothing."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Take care, Tish."  
  
She hung up without answering.  
  
Brian replaced the phone and sighed again. He slumped forward, his head in his hands. Letty was right. He owed Dom. He owed all of them.  
  
He would make sure the brass understood how important this was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,409/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** Hey, Guys. Sorry I didn’t post this yesterday. I was dealing with a persistent throbbing headache all night after I got home from work and wasn’t in the mood to do anything except go to sleep. Anyway, here’s chapter two. Let me know what y’all think, and the third chapter will be posted on Sunday.  
>  Fae

Chapter Two  
Two weeks and a _lot_ of groveling later and Brian was leaving LAX, heading for the car. The brass had tried to arrange for a ride for him. He had thanked them, then arranged for his own. There was no way he was riding around in the Focus they had provided for him. Especially not today. He had some business to attend to with Letty, and he didn't want them tracking him.

He climbed into the Mazda and took off, feeling slightly nostalgic as he pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello."

"Meet me in the desert. Two hours."

With that, he hung up, not waiting for a response. Letty was a smart girl. He knew she'd figure it out.

An hour and a half later, he was pulling into the old military compound where Race Wars were held once a year. They had been held three weeks ago, so he knew there wouldn't be anyone there.

He got out of his car and leaned against the hood, the folder with the immunity agreements sitting next to him. He had told Letty two hours so that she would have thirty minutes to scope the place out and assure herself that he hadn't brought anyone else along.

Exactly two hours after he hung up on her, Letty pulled up next to him in a Plymouth Road Runner. She stayed in the car for a few minutes longer, just watching him. He picked up the folder and held it up so she could see.

She got out of the car and walked around to the front. They stood there, staring at each other for a few minutes before Brian decided to break the silence.

"You look good, Letty," he said.

"You, too, Arizona. Older, without the curls."

"Regs are a little stricter for Feds."

"Yeah. I take it you got it?"

"Full immunity for both of you as soon as we bag Braga."

"Let me see." She held out her hand and Brian handed the folder over. Her eyebrow went up as she flipped through it.

"Leon and Vince?"

Brian shrugged. "You don't do anything by halves, so I sure as hell wasn't going to. Leon just had a ridiculous amount of speeding tickets and they only wanted Vince for questioning. Without me or the trucker, they didn't have anything on him. You and Dom were the biggest problems, what with your fun down South, but I finally got it. They didn't believe me at first. I had to do some discreet digging into Verone's visitor and call logs and find the paper trail to Braga's guys before they'd listen to me."

"But they did."

"Finally, yeah."

"You ain't bad, Arizona. For a pig."

"I stopped being a pig the day I first met Dom."

She stared at him, searching for something. "Yeah, I guess you did, didn't you?"

"Look, Letty. A lot has changed since that last day. I've changed. And I've got some completely off the books precautions I want to take. I wasn't fast enough to save Jesse and I'm not going to risk anyone else."

"What sort of precautions?"

"The last two agents we've put under have come back in body bags after the guys in charge lost them."

"A tracking device? That's stupid. They'd run a scan before taking drivers out."

"That's what I'd do, yeah. But the Bureau is full of idiots."

"Including you?"

"I joined up, didn't I?" he asked pointedly.

She didn't answer that. "So how do you plan on keeping me alive, Buster?"

"I've got some friends, former Feds, who are just as much on the run as Dom. They've kept me alive more times than I can count."

"What would these friends do?"

"A tracking device that can't be found and that only transmits on a frequency a very small handful of people have access to. Also, a way to stay in touch when cell phones don't work."

"And you trust them?"

"I wouldn't have even mentioned them if I thought it would put Dom at risk," he replied.

She narrowed her eyes at him, studying him again. She finally seemed to find what she was looking for because she nodded. "All right, Brian."

"Thank you. Dom would kill me if anything happened to you."

"If anything happens to me, I'd come back and kill you myself."

Brian grinned, then turned away slightly. "Yo, Ari. She agreed."

"Who are you talking to?" Letty asked, peering around suspiciously, trying to see who she had missed.

"Untraceable cell phone. Sort of. It’s kinda weird at first, but once you get used to it, it's freaking amazing. And they should be here soon."

"So, tell me what you've been up to, Arizona," Letty said, sitting on the hood of her car. "You sorta just disappeared a few months after that sting in Miami."

"Yeah, I know. And I don't really wanna know how you know about that. It's a long story. Basically, I got bored, so when Bilkins offered to sponsor me to the FBI, I said yes. My test scores caught the attention of the guy in charge of this beyond top secret program. It sounded exciting, so I took it and spent three years in Hell. I finally got out a few months back. Ari had been in, too, and she broke out a few years ago. She and Austin helped me out. They hid me while I reacclimated to being free, then trained me so I could never be controlled again."

"If you got dragged in through being a Fed, why did you stay?"

"It’s complicated. Basically, Ari is just too damn good and has dirt on everyone in charge.”

"And they're afraid of her?"

"Terrified. You a sci-fi fan?"

"Sometimes."

"You ever seen _Firefly_ or _Serenity_?"

"Yeah. The crew sorta reminded me of a little of us. Dom was a combination of Mal and Wash. I was Zoe and Inara. Vince was Jayne and Mia was Kaylee. And of course, Leon and Jesse were sorta like Simon and River, what with showing up and never leaving."

"A little, yeah. Well, let's just say that Ari is more like River than Jesse ever could have been."

"Right down to the kick ass fighting skills?"

"Right down. I've got the same upgrades."

"Huh."

They heard a bike approaching and turned. Brian watched as first Ariana de Luca, then Austin Andrews dismounted.

"Hey, Ari. Austin," he said.

"Brian," Ari said. "This her?"

"Yeah, this is Letty."

"So, how is this gonna work?" Letty asked.

"One of three ways," Austin said. "I can implant the tracker phone. It's a simple procedure that will knock you out for about a day. I can do the half version of the procedure that Ari and Brian went through which will knock you out for about two months. Or, I can do the whole procedure, which will knock you out for about six months."

"I'll be unconscious for six months?"

"No. You'll only be out for about a week, but the training will take almost six months."

"Can we afford that long?" she asked, looking at Brian.

"I can get you the time, if that's what you want. I would recommend the half, though. At least for now. It’ll give you what you need, and two months is easier to explain than six. Especially on a case this time sensitive."

"Okay. Let's do that. How are you going to buy me the time?"

"I'll go into the office tomorrow and tell them I have a meet set up for the following day. They don't trust me with anyone from Dom's crew because of my record, so they'll have someone tail me. I'll tell them that you saw the tail and ran."

Letty nodded. "You chew 'em out, they drop the surveillance and I come back in two months. All right. I can do this."

"Of that I have no doubt. Race Wars was held three weeks ago, so this place'll be deserted for a while. There's plenty of room for you to train. I'll drop by in a couple of days to see how it's going."

Brian turned to go, but stopped when Letty called out to him.

"Take care, Buster."

"You, too, Tish."

"I am so kicking your ass for that nickname," she threatened.

He just grinned. "Not like you are now, you ain't." He waved and slid into the car, taking off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 695/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So, part of this chapter was really fun to write. Letty is a little minx. Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter Three  
Brian spent the next two months inserting himself into the LA office. His second day on the job, he almost got into a fistfight with an agent named Stasiak.

The thing had been a setup, since Letty had never been at the meet in the first place, and he had always been going to yell at whatever schmuck had trailed him, but he probably would have ended up yelling at Stasiak anyway.

The man was a total prick and Brian knew it was just a matter of time before the two of them got into that fight.

He was looking forward to it.

On the other hand, he had started to make friends with the other newbie, Sophie. She was nice enough and he really hoped he didn't have to do anything to ruin that. Thing was, however, if it came down to it, he knew he'd choose Dom over Sophie every damn time. He’d choose Dom over everyone.

He made it out to the compound once a week to see how Letty was coming along. She was a natural, just like he knew she would be. Growing up with Vince and Dom, and hanging out around the other street racers gave her an edge. She had been dangerous before. Once she was done training, she was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Brian almost felt sorry for Dom.

Almost.

As far as Brian was concerned, Dom deserved whatever beat down Letty gave him for leaving her behind. The other man should have known better.

Today, he was sitting in a meeting room with Sophie, Stasiak and Penning, going over what they had on the Braga case. He and the others had decided that Letty was as ready as she could be with their limited time frame, so he was waiting for her call.

"We need something," Penning was saying. “Anything.”

"I _had_ something," Brian muttered. "If Stasiak hadn't screwed it up, we coulda had Braga two months ago."

"You little-" Stasiak began, but Brian's phone cut him off.

He pulled it out with a frown, making a show of being surprised when he saw the name. He quickly answered.

"Letty, Letty, I'm so sorry. I had no idea Stasiak was gonna tail me. I swear, it wasn't a set up."

She was silent for a few seconds, and when she spoke up, her voice was low pitched. _"I've been thinking about you all day, Buster,"_ she said in a husky voice.

He felt the corner of his lips twitch, but forced himself not to react, knowing the other three Agents were studying him intently. "Thank you, thank you. I swear, I'll make sure no one follows me this time."

_"I know you've been thinking about me, too. Haven't you?"_

Oh, he was so kicking her ass when he saw her again. "Okay, okay. Look, I'll call you tomorrow to set up a meet."

_"I'm really wet right now."_

"Letty-"

_"I just got out of the shower. Hurry back. I'm waiting for you."_

"All right, all right. Call me tom-"

He heard the click, indicating she had hung up. He stared at the phone for a few seconds, trying to get his mind out of the gutter, before he turned to Penning.

"If Stasiak screws this up for me again," he threatened.

"He won't. I'll tell Lawson we got our informant back. You do what you have to. Don't let her run again."

Brian left the office, mentally smirking.

This- this was why he was such a successful UC. He could make anyone believe anything, no matter how ridiculous it was, as evidenced by the fact that Dom bought that bullshit excuse that night outside Hector's garage.

_"It's kinda scary how good you are at that,"_ Letty said over the coms, snickering a little.

"Not my fault the Bureau is full of idiots," he muttered just loud enough for the com to pick up. "And I am so kicking your ass for that, Tish. Now shut up and let me get back to work."

She just laughed, but logged off. Brian grumbled under his breath about annoying little sisters thinking they're comedians.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,075/24,838  
>  **Warnings:** explicit het sex between Letty and Brian; minor D/s tones  
>  **Author's Note:** So, let me just say that I have absolutely no idea where this chapter came from. I was not expecting it, at all, but Letty just sorta surprised me. I don't see anything between Letty and Brian in the slightest, but Letty's high and horny after her race, and Brian figures that she's the closest he's ever going to get to what he really wants. They are both good friends, but there is absolutely no romantic relationship between the two of them. The only reason this happened was because of the adrenaline rush.
> 
> Anyway, it's been a very long time since I wrote a het sex scene, so I'm a little nervous. Let me know how it turned out, even if it's just to say that it sucks and I should stick to slash, because I am more than willing to stick to slash. :D  
> Fae

Chapter Four  
A week and a half later, Brian was mingling in the crowed at the finish line of the qualifying race in Koreatown, listening over the com as Letty swore her way through the race. He had a little trouble holding in his laughter at some of her more creative threats.

He knew she got most of them from Ari over the last two months, but that didn't change the fact that they were still hilarious.

She won, just like he knew she would and he grinned. They locked eyes briefly when she got out of the car. He inclined his head in her direction and she flashed a grin his way just before Campos reached her.

"Congratulations," Campos said, offering her his hand. "You work for Braga now. When the GPS calls, you follow."

She thanked him and he walked away. She spent a few minutes talking to Gisele Yashar, getting a few housekeeping details out of the way, before saying her goodbyes and getting back into her car.

Brian followed her a few minutes later and they drove for twenty minutes. They pulled into an empty parking garage and headed up a few floors where they both got out of their cars.

"Congrats," Brian began before Letty pushed him backwards, pulling his head down and smashing their lips together.

He stumbled back against the front of the car and kissed back before managing to pull apart briefly. "Letty, what about Dom?" he asked between kisses.

"He broke up with me. You know you want this, Bri. Please."

He hesitated, but nodded. She continued kissing him as she started pulling off his clothes. Once his shirt was on the ground, she began kissing her way down his chest, her fingers fumbling with the button on his pants.

He helped her out by toeing off his chucks, but was otherwise content to let her take the lead. She was right, he did want this. The tension had been growing between the two of them for the last two months during their once-a-week training sessions.

Of course, he knew that he was just using her as a substitute for the one he really wanted, but he had a feeling she was doing the same, so he wasn't too concerned. He knew she didn't want him. This was about release, and nothing more.

When he was naked, she pressed him backwards until he was lying on the hood of his car. She pressed teasing kisses along his stomach, hips and thighs before she finally took him into her mouth. He arched up into her mouth, but she put her hands on his hips and pressed down as she raised her head.

"Don't move, Buster," she said in a husky voice.

He nodded and she went back to work. She wasn't strong enough to forcefully keep him still, but he was more than willing to follow her order. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine that her small hands were larger, heavier, as they pressed him down, manhandling him.

She deep throated him, and he had a little trouble staying still, but he managed, tensing just slightly. He was about to come, but she pulled back with a pop.

He groaned, but she was simply removing her own clothes. He took that time to push himself farther up the hood so he was leaning against the windshield.

Once she was naked, she climbed up onto the hood and straddled his hips. He reached to steady her, but she shook her head with a smirk and gripped his wrists, pressing them against the hood at his sides.

"My show, Buster."

She slowly lowered herself down onto his cock, letting her head drop back. Once she was seated, she stayed still for a few seconds before she began to move.

Brian groaned and wanted to thrust up into her, but he had enough control to stay still and let her do the work. He had been close from the blowjob, so when her rhythm hitched slightly, he was more than ready to come with her.

"Come on, Arizona," she said, her voice low pitched. "Come for me."

He let go and felt her follow him over the edge. She slumped onto his chest and he brought one arm up to wrap around her waist. She slid off of him and shifted so she was lying on the hood next to him, her head resting on his shoulder.

They lay in silence for a while, just enjoying the glow. Finally, Letty spoke up, tracing lazy circles on Brian's chest.

"I think you'll be good for him."

"Huh?"

"Dom and I- We're too much alike. Both too dominant. He let me lead, but it chafed him. He needs someone like you. Someone who will submit to him. Follow his lead and back his play."

"Letty-"

"It's okay, Brian. Dom may have only just broken up with me a few months ago, but we've just been going through the motions for a while now. To be honest, we started breaking up the night you lost your car."

"I never meant to come between you."

"I know. Just like I know you never wanted to hurt him. But it happened. It's something I've had to deal with. It's something you'll have to deal with. Both of you. I just wanted to let you know that it's okay. When we get him home, go after him."

"Letty, Dom isn't gay."

"He appreciates a fine body, regardless of the make. And trust me, there ain't a man straight enough or a woman bent enough that the thought of you on your knees for them wouldn't be enough to make ‘em turn."

Brian had never been more grateful that he didn’t embarrass easily, otherwise he’d be bright red.

"Just take care of him for me, Arizona. Don't make me regret giving him to you."

"I promise, Letty."

"Good. Now come on. You've got work in the morning and I've got some repair work to do before Braga calls."

They both got up and began pulling on their clothes.

"If he doesn't call you tomorrow, I'll see you the day after," Brian said. "Whatever happens, call my cell when you get the notice. We'll stay in contact over the coms, but I need a record for the brass."

"Will do, Arizona."

She pulled him down for one last brief kiss before getting in her car and driving off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author’s Note:** So, now, we’re starting to get into the events of the movie itself, although most of this was told in flashbacks. I’d apologize for the cliffhanger, but if you’ve seen the movie, you know what happens next. Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter Five  
Noon, two days later found the two of them out at Neptune's Net, enjoying their shrimp lunches.

"You know," Letty said, popping a piece of shrimp into her mouth. "I can totally see why you went back, Arizona. This subterfuge thing is kinda fun."

"Yeah, except when you become real friends with your mark. Then it kinda sucks."

She reached across the table and gently squeezed his arm. "You came through in the end, Bri," she said. "He was never as mad as he probably should have been. He was more hurt than anything, although I don't think he was ever willing to admit why. Not even to himself. He wanted to make you family. Not just for Mia, either. I don't think he's still ever fully realized it, but he wanted you at his side."

"And would you-" He trailed off and let her fill in the blanks.

"Would I have let him? I don't know. I'd like to say yes, but I don't think I would have been okay with that. I've grown up a lot in the last five years. I think that made all the difference."

"I'm glad. I never wanted to come between you."

Just then, there was a buzzing sound and Letty pulled out the GPS with a frown. They both stared at it for a few moments.

"Guess I'm up," she said.

They stood and Brian tossed some cash on the table before they made their way out to the parking lot.

"We don't have time to get a tracking device, but it wouldn't do any good anyway," he said. "I'll go back to the office and call up a trace on your phone. Turn it off whenever you need to, but stay in contact over the coms, and keep me posted. Call me on the cells when you get home. And, Letty."

He gripped her arm and pulled her to a stop next to the car, turning her around so he could look down at her face. "Be careful,” he said seriously. “If it looks like things are going south, you get out of there. I know Dom would agree that his freedom is not worth your life. We'll find some other way to bring him home if we have to."

"I got this, Arizona," she said confidently before pulling him down for a kiss. "I'll be fine."

She got into her car and drove off. Brian watched until she was out of sight before getting into his own car and heading to the office.

He rushed into the building forty-five minutes later, nearly knocking Stasiak on his ass in the process.

"O'Conner!" Stasiak yelled, rushing after him.

Brian skipped the elevator, running up the stairs and bursting into his office. He grabbed the phone and quickly dialed.

_"Nextel, this is Robin."_

"Yeah, this is Special Agent O'Conner of the FBI, badge number 50232. I need a trace on a cell phone."

"What's going on, O'Conner?" Penning asked as he, Stasiak and Sophie crowded into the back of his office.

Brian covered his free ear so he could hear Robin.

_"What's the number?"_ she asked.

"340-555-4082."

_"All right. I will call you back when I have a lock."_

"Thank you."

Brian hung up and turned to Penning. "I was meeting with Letty and the GPS went off. I didn't have a tracker with me, so I told her to go and I'd track her cell phone."

"You mean we have a rogue informant running for the bad guy with no trace?" Stasiak exclaimed.

"I'm working on it," Brian said.

_"The GPS is taking us to a warehouse down on the docks,_ " Letty said. _"In addition to the other three drivers, there's three goons and Campos. They're running scanners for a trace."_

She went silent as they scanned her car. " _They're starting to load us into an Atkinson Furniture cargo truck. Sorry, Arizona. They're making us turn off our phones. I'll turn it back on as soon as I can."_

His phone rang. "O'Conner," he said.

_"Agent O'Conner, this is Robin with Nextel. I traced the cell phone to a warehouse down on the docks, but right after I got a lock, the signal went out.”_

"All right, thank you." He hung up the phone. "Shit!" he exclaimed.

"What?"

"Robin lost the signal. She must have turned the phone off." He ran his hand over his face. "Dammit!"

"She's running," Stasiak said with a sneer. "She has before."

"No, she's not. I saw the call myself. If she runs, not only does she have the FBI on her tail, she also has a pissed off Braga. She's got too much at stake right now," Brian said.

"It looks like there's nothing else we can do right now. O'Conner, it's your day off. Go enjoy it, but keep us posted if she calls."

"Will do, Boss," he said, herding Stasiak out of his office and leaving the building. "You know, Penning makes this almost too easy," he muttered as he got in his car.

Letty laughed on the other end. _"You say that like it's a bad thing,"_ she said.

"The sneaking around and trying to outsmart the brass is the best part," Brian complained.

_"For you, maybe."_

_"Be grateful that it's not like that for you, Letty. The adrenaline rush is the only thing Brian and I feel,"_ Ari said from her end of the com.

_"I know, and I'm sorry. I'm just a little freaked right now. Campos was looking at me weird and these other three drivers keep staring at me. It's creeping me out."_

"Knock 'em on their asses if you have to," Brian said.

_"Some reason, I don't think the bossman would approve."_

"Your safety is my priority, Chica," Brian said. "I don't care if the bossman doesn't approve."

" _I'll be careful, Arizona."_

"How did that nickname stick, anyway? You are aware that I'm not really from Arizona, right?" Brian asked.

_"Yeah, I know. But Dom said it fit you better than Barstow. Plus, you got ice in your veins. It’s one of those ironic nicknames._

"Ah."

_"Trace says you're heading south towards the border,_ " Austin said.

" _Yeah, I figured,_ " Letty replied as Brian pulled into the parking garage of the hotel Ari and Austin were using as headquarters.

"You know, they can't run until after dark. Why did they call you so early in the day?"

_"They called at twelve-thirty, and it's already three,"_ Austin said. " _Taking traffic into consideration, it'll probably take the truck about five hours to make it to the border, another thirty to sixty minutes to make it across, and then probably another two hours to reach their destination. They'll have to load up the cars and give the drivers any last minute instructions, so they probably won't actually get around to running until midnight or so."_

_"Great. I shoulda brought something to do,"_ Letty complained.

"We'll keep you busy," Brian promised, entering the room.

" _You better, Buster."_

The four of them spent the next eight hours trying to keep Letty from being bored. They went over various pieces of weaponry, discussing the pros and cons of each one, before moving on to different fighting styles. That turned into a dissection of fight scenes from their favorite movies and TV shows.

Finally, Letty let them know that the truck was stopping.

"You're maybe thirty miles from the border," Austin said after checking the computer.

Over the next hour, the three back in LA listened to Letty receive some more instructions from Yashar. When the drivers finally headed out, they watched Letty's dot move up the Lagardo Ravine.

"How do they plan on getting you across?" Brian asked.

_"I don't know. I can't see anything. Wait. It looks like- there's a tunnel or something that goes right under the mountain."_

"Seriously?"

_"Yeah. It's kinda cool, actually."_

"Pretty ingenuous, too," Austin said. "Who would ever think to look down?"

Once they exited the tunnel, they drove another thirty minutes or so before coming to a stop.

_"Hey, Guys, I have a bad feeling about this," Letty said. "They're making us get out of the cars, and they all have guns."_

"Just do what they say, but stay alert," Brian said, closing his eyes to think. "Okay. Penning said we always lose contact when the UC runs. They end up being collected sometime a week later in body bags." He opened his eyes and locked eyes with Ari. "Shit. They kill the drivers so they can't talk. Street racers are a dime a dozen and no one will miss them. Letty, get out of there!"

He heard the sound of gunfire over the com.

"Letty!"

_"I'm all right! I'm in the car, but I think Fenix is following me."_

"Try to lose him!"

_"I'm trying!"_

Brian, Ari and Austin stood in tense silence for several moments, listening to Letty yelling and cursing at the man behind her.

Ari looked over at Brian. "Even if she does lose him, they're not going to let her go," she said. "She knows too much."

_"We have to fake my death,"_ Letty said, somehow having caught that, despite trying to outrun Fenix.

"We do that and you _know_ Dom is gonna come back for revenge," Brian said. "He won't listen to reason and the immunity agreement will be useless."

"We don't have a choice, Brian," Ari said. "We fake her death and Austin and I will take care of her until you take down Braga."

_"Shit! Son of a bitch!"_ Letty yelled. _"Your call, Arizona. I can't outrun him forever."_

Brian pulled at his hair, trying to make a decision. He didn't want to put Letty, Dom and Mia through that, but he knew Ari was right. "All right. All right. Can you outrun him to Cerella?"

" _Yeah. Why?_ "

"There's this one stretch of road that's just long enough," Brian said, heading out the door and making his way down to his car. "When I give you the signal, let him hit you and roll the car. Stay in the car and don't move. Let him think you're dead. I'll come driving up before he can check. He'll take off. Ari, Austin, I need you two to steal an ambulance and be the first EMTs on the scene. Pronounce her DOA. I'll ID the body and after you drive away, you can switch her out with a fake. The only thing we'll have to worry about is when Mia makes the arrangements."

" _Got it,"_ Letty said. _"Shit! Sorry, Guys. I gotta concentrate."_

"Letty, I need you to call my cell phone. That way I have an excuse to be first on the scene."

_"Give me a second, Buster, I'm a little busy."_

Brian jumped in his car and began racing towards Cerella Drive, hoping and praying to every one of Jesse's Car Gods that he would make it in time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,099/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** Hey, Guys. I just wanted to apologize for not posting this yesterday. I was exhausted after work and took a nap, then forgot about it when I woke up. Anyway, here you go.

Chapter 06  
Everything went according to plan.

Letty found a spare moment to call Brian's cell as she raced Fenix to Cerella Drive. At Brian's signal, she let Fenix catch up and ram into the side of her car, sending the Plymouth flipping through the air. She had been able to brace herself enough that she wasn't killed, but still maintained some rather serious injuries in the process.

Like Brian ordered, she hadn't moved as Fenix had gotten out of his car. Brian's headlights had caused Fenix to spook and he had taken off before confirming that she was dead.

Brian had parked his car and rushed over to Letty's side, helping her out of the car. He applied pressure to one of the wounds as he pulled out his cell phone and called for an ambulance.

Like planned, Ari and Austin were the first EMTs on the scene, with a police car arriving soon afterwards. Ari had shoved Brian out of the way while she and Austin worked on Letty, and he had gone over to speak to the officer, not taking his eyes off of the woman on the ground.

When Austin pronounced Letty dead, he had let his knees give out. Another twenty minutes later, he had ID'd the body, Letty had been placed in a body bag and Ari and Austin had driven off.

Brian had spent another forty minutes going over the details with the officer and his partner, running circles around them as he confused them to the point where they weren't entirely sure which way was up. Before taking off, he gave the lead officer his card and instructed the man to call Penning before doing anything, especially in regards to alerting the next of kin.

Three hours after that found him back out at the desert compound where Ari and Austin had taken Letty after delivering the false body to the morgue. Austin had used his background in first aid to take care of Letty's injuries and now the three of them were standing around her bed, trying to determine what to do from there.

"I don't like this," Brian said finally. "I don't like hurting Dom and Mia like this."

"I know, Brian. But we don't have a choice. If Fenix and Campos know that I'm still alive, they will keep coming after me until I'm really dead. Ari was right. I wouldn't have been able to outrun them forever. At least this way, you'll have an ace up your sleeve in case something goes wrong."

"I know that, all right? I know! I just- How am I supposed to face Dom and Mia? I promised to keep you safe, Letty, and as far as they'll know, I failed."

"They won't, Buster. They don't know I was running for you. They'll think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"He'll know. He'll find out somehow. You know he will, Letty. How am I supposed to face him when he does?"

"You tell him the truth, Brian."

"The truth will hurt him even more. He'll blame himself and you know it."

Letty sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Hopefully he won't find out until after you bring down Braga, so I won't have to hide and you'll be able to tell him that I'm still alive."

There was silence for a few minutes before Ari spoke up. "In the meantime, what are you planning on doing?"

"Penning will probably have been notified by now. I'll go into the office tomorrow and we'll be back to square one. Only this time, not only will we be dealing with Braga and the Feds, we'll also have to worry about Dom doing something to screw this up."

"You'll just have to leave your plans flexible enough to account for the Dom factor," Letty said. "I know that's gonna suck, but it's the best you're gonna get."

"Yeah, I know. God, I just hope I don't have to race him for a slot."

"Shouldn't a said that, Buster. Now you know you will," Letty said with a grin.

Brian gave a half smirk. "Yeah, probably. Okay. You three need to get out of here as soon as Letty can be moved. We can't risk someone seeing Letty around. Stay out of sight and we'll stay in contact."

"We won't go too far, just in case something happens and you need some backup," Ari said.

"Just be careful."

"We will, Bri. I promise. In the meantime, Ari can help me train so I can beat your ass next time we spar."

Brian managed a smile that time. "You wish, Tish."

"You better stop calling me that, Buster."

"As soon as you beat me. Which will be- never."

"You better be prepared to eat your words, Arizona. I will beat you one of these days. Just you wait."

Austin was grinning at the two of them, and Ari even had a faint smile playing at her lips.

"We'll take care of her, Brian," Ari said. "You have my word."

"Thanks, Ari. Austin. I don't know what I'd do without the two of you."

"Don't mention it. But you better head back. You have work in about two hours," Austin said.

Brian nodded and looked down at Letty one more time.

"Don't you dare apologize, Buster. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead for real right now."

He didn't reply, just leaned down and gave her as tight of a hug as he dared, worried about jostling her injuries. "I swear to you that Braga is going down, Letty."

"I know, Bri," she replied, pulling back slightly. "But don't you dare get yourself killed in the process. Bringing Dom home isn't worth your life," she said, throwing his warning from the previous afternoon back at him.

"I promise," he replied, pressing their foreheads together.

She gave him a light kiss before letting him pull away so he could leave.

"From here on out, the coms stay on at all times," Ari said. "No chances, Brian. And if we hear even a hint of danger towards you, we're coming to bail you out, no matter what. Clear?"

He nodded. "Yeah, we're clear. Just so we're clear that I might not always be able to respond right away." They all looked at each other for a few moments before Brian moved to leave. "Well, take care," he said, leaving the room and making a beeline for his car.

He had to get out of there before he decided not to leave at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,215/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** And now, we’re finally getting into the actual events of the movie, and not just flashbacks. Mia and Dom will show up in the next chapter. Let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 07  
Two days later found Brian chasing some asshole through downtown. He was running on anger and frustration and too many energy drinks. He knew Dom had to be on his way back to the States by now and he didn't want the other man anywhere near LA.

If he came back, it would only be a matter of time before the FBI caught up to him.

So if Brian ended up being a little harsher on the asshole than absolutely necessary, so be it. He got the name and made his way back to the office.

He reached the floor and met up with Sophie, fiddling with his tie.

"Thank god. Listen, he's in a mood today because yesterday was his cheat day and then today, some genius brought in donuts," she said as they walked to the office together.

"Great," Brian said as he held open the door for her. "Sorry I'm late," he said.

_"No, you're not,"_ Letty said over the com, with a smirk in her voice, as Stasiak scoffed. 

"Complaints keep rolling in after your little downtown Olympics, O'Conner," Penning said. "Tell me reinstating you wasn't a mistake." 

__Reinstating him wasn't the mistake. Letting him anywhere near anyone from Dom's crew was the mistake. Of course, he wasn't going to say that out loud._ _

__"I got a name," he said instead. "David Park."_ _

__"That's it?" Stasiak asked with another scoff. "That's all you got? David Park? I could throw a fortune cookie out this window and hit fifty David Park's."_ _

__"It's Korean, not Chinese," Sophie said._ _

__"Whatever."_ _

__Brain just gave a mental smirk. "Park is a scout that recruits street racers to be mules for the Braga Cartel," he said, rattling off the information Letty had given him. "We find Park, and we bust the bad guys."_ _

_"If only it were that easy,_ " Ari said. 

__Brian's com had been amplified so that it picked up everything around him. They were in a pretty tight spot right now, trying to bag Braga and stay ahead of the Feds before Dom got involved and screwed up the immunity agreement. They weren't taking any chances in regards to Brian's safety._ _

__Losing Letty would push Dom over the edge. Losing Brian, too, would completely destroy him._ _

_"Buster'll get 'im,"_ Letty said, confidently. 

__Brain just wished he had the same confidence in himself. He had torn this family apart once. He hated that he had a hand in doing it again._ _

__He felt even worse two days later when he and a few other FBI agents were standing back while Mia and several others buried the empty casket. He could see Mia crying in her seat in the front row._ _

__As the casket was being lowered, Stasiak walked up to him._ _

__"Facial recognition software matched Toretto about ten minutes after he crossed the border. I don't get it. I thought he'd show."_ _

__Brian just watched Stasiak walk away before looking up at the hill overlooking the cemetery. He had been able to tell the moment Dom had appeared up there, watching his girlfriend's burial. He just couldn't believe that the other agents hadn't been able to tell. It had always been impossible for Brian to _not_ notice Dom's presence, so it was hard for him to grasp the fact that not everyone could._ _

_"It'll be okay, Bri,"_ Letty said. 

__"I hate this, Tish," he murmured under his breath, just loud enough for the com to catch._ _

_"I know, Brian. But everything will work out. You'll see."_

__"I hope to god you're right," he said as he took one last look over at Mia and got back into the Agency sedan, heading back to the office._ _

__Ever since Letty had been 'killed', they had been working more or less around the clock, with each of them barely taking a couple of hours to get some sleep before coming back and doing it all over again.  
Today was no different. They were going to be working late into the night before finally getting to go home._ _

__It was close to ten-thirty that night when they were finally getting ready to start wrapping up for the night. Before they could leave, Penning came in._ _

__"I just got off the phone with Deputy Director Lawson. If we don't make some serious inroads into the Braga case in the next seventy-two hours, they're gonna shut us down."_ _

__Brian was sprawled in his chair as Sophie raised her hand and asked the question everyone wanted to know._ _

__"I know I'm a newbie here, but why the clock now?" she asked._ _

_"That's a good question,"_ Ari said. 

__"Because it's been two years and the last three agents we've sent to infiltrate the organization have come back in body bags."_ _

__Brian looked at the screen and his lips thinned when he saw the picture of Letty. Yeah, he knew she was alive, but she had been in a body bag. And that would have been permanent if he hadn't had friends like Ari and Austin._ _

__"He's moved more heroin across the border than Escobar did in ten years," Penning continued. "This guy is becoming one of our biggest national threats and we don't even have a picture of him. We don't have prints! Not even a goddamn DOB!" He looked at Brian and Sophie. "What's the status on David Park? Isn't he our ticket into the Braga organization?"_ _

__Brian let Sophie field that one._ _

__"We're running the name through city and county data bases, sorting the possibilities. We've got over five hundred already."_ _

_"Maybe you should move this along a bit,"_ Austin said. _"Stasiak wasn't joking about the facial recognition software. We're running out of time."_

_"Give Sophie some clues to narrow down the search. You know he has a record with the street racing shit,"_ Letty suggested. 

__"Park's insignificant. Sounds like another jerk-off to me," Stasiak muttered._ _

__"It's not," Brian said, speaking up for the first time. "Without Park, Braga wouldn't have drivers to move his shipments." He addressed Sophie. "Cross-check traffic. Illegal modifications, street racing. This guy will definitely have a record. We'll find him."_ _

__"We better," Penning said, pinning Brian with a hard stare before dismissing them._ _

__Brian and Sophie walked out together, bent over the folder Sophie had in her hand._ _

__Stasiak chuckled as he passed them. "What do you know? Your boy Toretto's red Chevelle has been spotted in his old neighborhood. I'm going to bring his ass in."_ _

__Brian smirked. "Not in your car, you're not," he said as Stasiak disappeared._ _

_"Your boy? It’s definitely the other way around,"_ Letty said. 

__Brian mentally shook his head as he said goodnight to Sophie. Once he was out of the office, he was finally able to address Letty. "You know that, and I know that," he said, getting into his car. "But they don't. Either way, I'm not worried. Stasiak doesn't stand a chance at bringing Dom in. Now, if you don't mind, I could really use some time alone. It's been a really rough couple of days."_ _

_"No problem, Brian,"_ Austin said. _"I'll leave the coms up so we can hear you, just in case something happens, but I'll mute the others so you can't hear us."_

__"Thanks, Austin. I'll talk to you guys in the morning," he said._ _


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,070/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** Hey, Guys, just wanted to apologize for the delay in posting this. I kept getting distracted and forgetting to post. On the plus side, hey, Torettos. :D  
>  Fae

Chapter 08  
The next morning, Brian was in a much better mood when he went into the office. Ari had hacked the county database and Dom hadn't been picked up the night before. His good mood lasted until he left the elevator and saw Stasiak in the processing room with Mia.

"Ah, shit," he said.

_"What's wrong?"_ Letty asked

"Stasiak brought Mia in."

_"Asshole went after Dom last night. Has she been there since then?"_

"Probably." He went over to Sophie's desk and picked up the phone. "Hi, this is Forsythe in Evidence. I need Stasiak down here right away to sign some greenies. Thanks."

_"Little minx."_

He ignored Letty as he hung up and looked at Sophie, who was trying not to grin.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey. So, I narrowed it down to about fifty or so David Parks. What I'd like you to do is run the make and model on each one of them. All right?"

"Okay. All right."

"Thank you."

They saw Stasiak leave the room and Brian made his way over there, buzzing himself in. "Hey, Tyler, we got a transfer." He stood in front of Mia and offered his hand. "You wanna come with me?"

She looked up at him in disbelief and ignored his hand as she stood, but she did allow him to escort her out of the building. He led her around the corner to a café, mentally wincing at the awkward silence surrounding them.

He sat across from her as she drank her coffee, waiting for the questions he could see in her eyes.

_"I recommend you tell her the truth, Arizona. Not about this case, but about before."_

"I'm almost done," Mia told the waitress when asked if she wanted more coffee. She fiddled with her cup for a few seconds before looking at Brian. "Why don't you tell me why you dragged me here, Brian," she said.

_"The truth, Bri."_

"You know they're going to capture Dom. Maybe worse. I don't want you getting tangled up in this. So, stay away from him."

_"Ouch. Bad move, Buster. She's not gonna like that."_

"That's what you have to say to me after five years? All of a sudden you care what happens to me?"

_"I'm serious, Arizona. Try the truth now."_

"What I did to you was wrong. I'm sorry. It was- It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"I'm sorry, too, Brian. I'm sorry that you had to come into my home and pretend to love me."

_"Ah, boy. She's pissed."_

"I'm so sorry that you ripped my family apart. I'm very sorry that that was hard for you."

Brian gave a mental wince, but thankfully Letty didn't say anything to that.

"I lied to you. I lied to Dom. I lied to everybody. That's what I do best. It's why the Feds recruited me."

"Maybe you're lying to yourself. Maybe you're not the good guy pretending to be the bad guy. Maybe you're the bad guy pretending to be the good guy. You ever think about that?"

_You will never know how much._ "Every day."

He could see the fight drain right out of her, not expecting him to agree with her. She stood up and took a few steps towards the door before turning, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I always wondered. Why did you let my brother go that day?"

"I don't know," he said, not willing to tell her the truth on this one.

_"Good call, Bri. She's not ready to know the truth on that score just yet."_

He watched Mia leave and ran a hand over his face. "Shit," he said.

_"Well, at least it went better than it had any right to,"_ Letty offered.

"At least she didn't hit me," Brian agreed. "Although I'd have deserved it for what I did to her."

He paid for Mia's coffee, then headed back to the office.

"Brian," Sophie called. "I got the cross-checks on David Park back and I have a list of possibles."

"What do you got?"

He vaguely listened to Sophie with one ear as she went through the list, throwing out the appropriate responses until he heard the correct one.

"Wait, that's it."

"What?"

"The two-forty with the illegal mod."

"How do you know?"

"'cause that's somethin' I'd drive," he said with a grin, grabbing the file and heading back out.

_"You're having way too much fun with this, Bri."_

"Little pleasures, Tish. Little pleasures."

She laughed as he got in his car. When he got to the address, he took a moment to appreciate the car. "Not as nice as Mia's, but still looks good," he said.

_"Nobody's is as nice as Mia's. The amount of love, time and money Dom put into that thing for her? Not even V's was that nice."_

"What happened to him, anyway?"

_"He free-fell through-"_

Brian was distracted by a crash a few floors above him and looked up to see someone hanging out a window.

"Shit."

_"Two g's says Dom got here first,"_ Letty said with a laugh.

"No bet," Brian replied as he raced up the steps. "And this isn't funny. He hurts Park, and that agreement is out the window."

He reached the apartment with his gun up, and was unsurprised to see Dom standing at the window, dangling Park outside by the leg.

"Bring him up, Dom." He saw the miniscule tightening in Dom's stance. "Bring him up."

"You here to arrest me, O'Conner?" Park was yelling something and Dom gave him a shake. "Shut up!" he growled.

_Don't make me have to._ "Letty was my friend, too."

"You weren't anybody's friend."

Brian couldn't hold back a wince and was grateful that Dom was looking the other way.

_"Don't listen to him, Bri. He's just hurting right now."_

"She was running for this guy, Braga, and things went bad. I'm going to get these guys, Dom. Now let me do my job and bring him up."

"I'm going to kill this Braga. And anyone else who gets in my way."

Brian was moving before Dom had finished his threat. He didn't need Letty yelling in his head to know that Dom was serious. By the time he had a hold on David Park, Dom had disappeared, which was good, since he would have had to take Dom in for threatening a witness and endangering an investigation.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,989/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** Here’s chapter 9 and the qualifying race between Dom and Brian. I always liked this race and I had fun writing this chapter. Well, the later half. The first half was full of Brian angst, which isn't really all that fun. Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 09  
As Brian steered David Park towards the processing room, he vaguely heard Stasiak yelling at him. He really didn't want to deal with the asshole, so he ignored the man.

Unfortunately, he couldn't ignore it when Stasiak tried to grab him. He saw the threat out of the corner of his eye and reacted on instinct, slamming Stasiak's face against the wall twice before letting the asshole slide to the ground.

He managed to keep the smirk off his face when Penning laid into Stasiak for bleeding on the floor, and forced himself to give his boss the answer he wanted.

" _It's almost like he knows something_ ," Letty said of Penning as Brian none-so-gently pushed Park into the room.

He went through the motions almost on autopilot. His mind wasn't on his job.

It was on Dom. The first time he had seen the other man since handing over the keys to the Supra five years ago. Dom had changed. He was darker. The old Dom wouldn't have dropped Park out the window. The old Dom wouldn't have even dangled the man out the window in the first place.

And Brian couldn't help but blame himself.

If he hadn't been a cop and betrayed Dom. If he had been just a little bit faster and been able to save Jesse. If he hadn't agreed to let Letty run for Braga. If he had just put the pieces together a little sooner. If he hadn't let Letty talk him into helping her fake her death.

If only.

Letty had been right. He had fallen in love with Dom. She may have given up her claim, but there was no way Dom would want him. Not now. It would have been bad enough before faking Letty's death. Now, he'd be lucky if he just ended up in the hospital.

More likely, he'd end up in the empty casket buried under Letty's name when Dom found out.

And Dom was the one person Brian would never raise a hand against. Not even in self-defense.

Once he had processed and questioned Park, Brian found himself back in another meeting. He spent way too much time in those stupid things. When Penning gave him the go ahead, he silently celebrated. He couldn't wait to get back out there and actually do something. One way or another, it would all be over soon.

Either he'd bag Braga and keep Dom out of prison, or he'd end up dead. The latter option was just a matter of who would kill him. Fenix, or Dom.

His money was on Dom.

"All right, so these are all the imports the city has in impound," Sophie said, bringing up the photos on the screen.

"Okay, nice." Brian couldn't help the grin that came over his face. It'd been a while since he'd raced.

"Pick your poison."

"All right. Twenty-two oh-six. I crashed one of those." He grinned at Sophie, and his obvious excitement was catching, because she grinned back. "Thirty-four eighteen. And twenty-seven sixty-five."

"Okay, so which one do you want?" Sophie asked, a little confused.

Brian just looked at her. "I want them all." _Duh._

Once he had the cars, he spent two days getting the Skyline in perfect condition while ignoring Letty. He knew she would say it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't believe that.

Thankfully, Ari seemed to get that he needed some time alone, so she kept Letty busy with training so she would be too distracted to bug him.

When the grunt brought over the tracking device, he took it, despite knowing he'd have to kill it before they started the run. He had a cover to maintain here, and it had nothing to do with Braga.

Finally, _finally_ , it was time for the qualifying race. It was held at the same place, so Brian had the advantage in that he knew the course already.

He exchanged insults with the gay cowboy before Yashar broke it up. As he followed her up to Campos, he locked eyes with Dom as the other man drove into the lot.

"Shit," he muttered, once Dom had passed him.

" _What's wrong_?" Letty asked.

"Dom's here. This may not be a quarter mile, but I have never beat Dom in a race. I don't know if I can."

" _You'll be fine, Bri. If you lose, you can always bump that asshole cowboy out. Send SWAT to his place, or something. Then you'd have someone else on the run who can watch your back."_

He couldn't reply, because they had reached Campos. He saw Fenix sitting off to the side and growled under his breath.

_"Easy there, Arizona. Fenix will get his."_

They watched Campos hit a couple of golf balls out into the net that stretched above the crowd while Yashar went back downstairs.

When she returned with Dom, Campos went into his speech about what Braga had him looking for. It went in one ear and out the other. He had given the exact same speech, word for word, two weeks ago when Letty had done this.

_"Idiot,_ " Letty hissed when Dom asked what they were hauling. _"Don't look too eager. Dammit, Dom, that's a rookie move. Vince was all over Brian for doing that."_

Thankfully, Fenix was the only one who got his dander up and he was easily placated. Yashar handed out the GPS units while Dom finished his stare down with Fenix and told Campos they were cool.

When the racer next to him asked who was closing the streets, Brian had to fight back the urge to punch him.

They finally made it to the starting line. Brian was in the inside left, with Dom in the other inside lane. Since Brian was in a right side Skyline, that put the two of them barely a foot apart. As the automated voice began the countdown, they looked at each other.

"You sure you want to do this?" Dom asked, a brief flicker of- _something-_ crossing his face.

Brian just looked at him. "A lot has changed.”

Dom's face hardened. "You're right," he said before turning back to face the front.

_More than you will ever know_ , Brian thought, instinct being the only thing that had him leaping forward with the other three drivers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dom's car go up on the back wheels and flashed back to their last race together. He sent up a quick prayer to Jesse's car gods that this race had a better ending. He didn't think he could go through that again.

He swore when he had to slam on the brakes to avoid rear-ending the car in front of him and went around the asshole. Two turns later, he had to swerve onto a cross street to avoid the crash caused by one of the other drivers.

That was his first clue that the GPS had no idea what he was doing. It told him to go right, except that took him back the other way. He ignored it, and turned left into an alley.

The stupid thing kept saying 'rerouting', while Austin and Letty were cracking up in his ear.

"Just shut up!" he finally yelled at both annoyances.

Unsurprisingly, neither one listened.

He finally ended up on an access road that looked down over the main drag. He saw Dom and the asshole driving along, and followed them. He had only been driving for a few seconds when the GPS spoke up again.

"U-turn if possible."

"Are you kidding me?!" he yelled at it.

" _She's right, Bri,"_ Austin said. _"The road ends just ahead."_

Brian's eyes darted frantically around, trying to figure out how to get back down there. He winced when he saw the wooden stairs.

"Sorry, Car," he said, jerking the wheel sharply to the left.

_"Did you just apologize to your car?_ " Ari asked, bemused.

_"Trust me, Ari. You never want to offend your car. Especially if it's one as temperamental as Skylines are known to be,_ " Letty said.

Brian ignored the girls as he dodged the asshole flipping his car after trying to run Dom off the road. As he drew up on Dom's right, the GPS announced that they had a quarter mile left.

They looked at each other, then Brian started to pull ahead. He saw Dom hit the Nos and shoot ahead, and smirked.

"Too early, Dom," he muttered, hitting his own Nos. He surged forward and had almost passed Dom when the other man bumped his tail.

"No!" he yelled as he spun out. "Son of a bitch!"

_"What'd he do?"_ Letty asked.

Brian ignored her and continued to the finish line, a scowl fixed firmly on his face. He got out, slammed the door and stalked towards Dom.

_"Don't do anything stupid, Arizona,_ " Letty cautioned.

"At least we know you can't beat me straight up," he snapped at Dom.

Dom just folded his arms and smirked as Brian got up in his face. "I didn't know there were any rules," he said, which just pissed Brian off even more.

Dom knew _exactly_ what Brian was talking about and it wasn't this damn race.

They stared each other down until Fenix came over, interrupting them.

"Now that's what I call real driving," Fenix said, pulling Dom away from Brian.

"No, that's bullshit, Man," Brian said, jabbing his finger at Fenix before stalking back to his car.

_"Don't ever change, Arizona,"_ Letty said with a laugh. _"That confrontational, take no prisoners attitude is part of the reason Dom liked you so much."_

"Go cry to your mama, eh?" Fenix taunted.

"Dom may not get the chance to kill Fenix," Brian muttered as he got into his car. "He'll have to get in line."

_"Just as long as he dies."_

The gay cowboy stopped him, and said something about muscle beating imports.

"This guy's going down first," Brian muttered. Dwight just kept right on talking, pissing Brian off more and more with every word.

Later that night, Brian led the SWAT team to Dwight's house.

"You're under arrest for distribution of meth," Brian said from behind the mask.

"Meth? Dwight's never touched that shit, Bro!" Dwight protested.

"Dwight has now," Brian said, pulling out a package of meth, a smirk firmly on his face behind the mask.

_"You're enjoying this way too much, Arizona,"_ Letty said as Dwight was led out of the house.

"You know that's never going to stick, right?" another agent asked.

"Yeah, it's not supposed to," Brian replied with a grin, pulling the mask away from his face.

They left Dwight's house and Brian made his way back to his place. It was a really dinky, run down little thing that was barely livable. It was more of a storage building than a house, but he didn't care. He was only in LA long enough to bag Braga and clear Dom.

"He will never know just how much he owes me," Brian grumbled as he flopped down on his bed. "I should have let the asshole run and get shot."

_"You really wanna make the run with a loose cannon like him? It's gonna be bad enough running with Dom."_

"Don't remind me. Although it will be nice having someone watching my back. I'll have a little more room to work with, without blowing my secret."

_"Definitely a good idea,_ " Austin said. _"The fewer people who know, the safer you'll be."_

_"Just be careful,"_ Letty said. _"Dom will be going in there with one thing on his mind: vengeance. It might change with you in the picture, but any plan he has will be focused on his revenge."_

"I'll keep that in mind. I plan on both of us surviving. Especially since now we know exactly what we're dealing with."

_"Glad my fake death can be of some use."_

"Don't even joke, Letty. It's not funny."

_"Sorry, Arizona."_


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 916/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So, I absolutely love this scene from the movie. The interaction between Dom and Brian, and then the whole conversation between Dom and Gisele later. Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 10  
The next night, Brian was at the club, playing pool, when he felt Dom come in. He was lining up his last shot and smirked to himself when he felt Dom's gaze rake his body, checking him out. By the time he finished the game, Dom had made it to the bar, so he grabbed his beer and made his way over. He claimed the stool next to where Dom was standing, his arm brushing Dom's thigh.

He felt the weight of Dom's gaze on the top of his head as he fondled his bottle.

"That's too bad about Dwight," he said, a faint smirk on his face. "Having the Feds raid your house the same night you make the team. So unfortunate."

_"Again, you're enjoying this way too much."_

Brian ignored Letty, and he could hear the smirk in Dom's voice as the bigger man replied.

"I wish I could say I was surprised to see you here."

There was a brief silence and he glanced up at Dom.

"What's to stop someone from telling them you're a cop?" Dom asked, indicating the rest of the room with the tilt of his beer.

Brian shrugged. "Probably the same thing that's keeping me from telling them why you're really here."

He looked up and met Dom's gaze. The other man smirked slightly and took a swig.

Campos came over and they exchanged greetings before Campos led them to a more secluded area. As they walked, Campos asked about the car and Brian assured him it would be ready.

"I also heard you just got out of County," Campos said as they took their seats.

Brian could hear Dom's scoff, even though he hid it well.

"Yeah."

"Mmm-hmm," Campos said in consideration.

"You know a guy named Jim Garcia?" Dom asked.

_"Don't answer that. The name is Garcia James and he's from LOMPOC, not County,"_ Letty warned.

Brian leaned back in his seat and shook his head. "Nah. Big place. Lots of names. Lots of faces."

Dom scoffed again, covering it up by taking a drink.

Campos looked over at him. "And you. You're wanted by a lot of people, Homes," he said.

Brian smirked. "Yeah, that kind of heat can't be good for business," he needled.

_"Be careful,"_ Letty warned.

Dom just looked at him. "Yeah, well, that depends on how you look at things. I go down, I do time. I do _real_ time," he said pointedly.

Brian scoffed slightly and Dom switched his gaze to Campos, feeling like he'd made his point.

"I don't know about your other drivers, but when I see flashing lights in my mirror, I _don't_ stop."

Brian and Dom stared at each other while Campos glanced between the two of them.

"Do you know each other?"

Brian glanced at him, then looked back at Dom. Dom continued staring at him for several long moments before finally answering.

"He used to date my sister."

"I see," Campos said with a slight smile. He looked at Brian. "You're a lucky man."

"How's that?" Brian asked.

"You're still breathing."

Dom grinned and Brian looked away. "You have no idea how true that is," Brian muttered, letting the noise from the club cover the sound.

_"Relax, Bri. You guys are cool."_

Brian vaguely heard the toast. _Yeah, until he finds out about you,_ he thought, raising his bottle, even though he had no idea what the toast was for.

He asked a few questions about Braga, which Campos answered before being called away, offering them whatever they wanted as he left. Brian only paid enough attention to keep up his side of the conversation. Letty had already gotten these answers for him.

Once Campos was gone, Brian looked at Dom. "Braga's mine," he said. "I'm taking the whole house down."

He heard Dom's sarcastic 'Good luck' as he followed after Campos, and shook his head with a grin.

He was still a little concerned about working with Dom, but he had to admit, having the other man involved would make things interesting, which was always a good thing in his book.

He spent the rest of the night prowling around the club, spying on Campos and a man he thought might be Braga. He had to wait for the two of them to leave the room, but he finally got the shot glasses. During one last sweep of the place, he overheard a conversation between Dom and Yashar.

The first part reaffirmed what Letty had said, about Dom's preferences, but the second half, the half where he answered the question about his taste in women, made him feel like he was trespassing on something sacred.

Letty must have known what he was feeling, because she spoke up as he was making his way back to his car.

_"You know, that applies as much to you as it does to me,"_ she said. _"Maybe even more. I'd say I'm probably more like ninety-five percent devil."_

In spite of himself, Brian felt a small smile cross his face. It was hard to stay in a bad mood when Letty was in a good one. There was just something about her personality that was so infectious.

"More like ninety-nine," he threw back.

_"Ninety-six."_

"Ninety-eight. And a half."

_"Oh, okay. Fine. As long as that half is in there."_

He let out a laugh. "Thanks, Tish. I needed that," he said.

_"Yeah, I know. Get some sleep, Buster. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow."_

"Night, Letty."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,291/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** Hey, Everyone. Sorry it’s been so long since the last update. I got distracted by a shiny new fandom and then I’ve been having internet problems. Anyway. Here’s the next chapter. This scene in the movie kind of pissed me off. I mean, it was the perfect setup with the two of them right there. And they really needed to clear the air before the run for the border. So, this was my attempt to fix that. Let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 11  
Brian was talking to Sophie about the shot-glasses the next day when the GPS rang. He reported to Penning, then took off.

_"Seriously?"_ Letty asked when Penning called about the traffic violations Brian was committing.

"Sure thing, Dad," Brian muttered as he closed the phone and picked up the speed even more.

Because he had a cover to maintain to Dom, he pretended to panic when the goons scanned for trackers. He left it active for as long as possible before dropping it into the half empty can of soda he'd brought along just for that purpose.

Brian was the last one into the truck, facing Dom.

They had only been on the road for about twenty minutes when Frick and Frack got bored and jumped down. Brian didn't know their names and he didn't care to learn. Instead, he just watched as they tried to get Dom to participate in their conversation.

It wasn't working, but it was amusing. They finally gave up and, when Brian didn't cooperate, either, they returned to their own cars to sulk.

Once they were gone, Brian went over and slid into Dom's car.

"What do you want, O'Conner?" he asked, not opening his eyes.

"I just wanted to say sorry. For everything. I shouldn't- I shouldn't have lied to you. I'm sorry for hurting Mia. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough to save Jesse, and I'm sorry about Letty. If there was anything I could have done, you have to believe I would have. I swear."

_"You did, Arizona. You kept me alive. With anyone else, I'd be dead right now."_

"I have to believe you? Like I had to believe you weren't a cop?" Dom asked, looking over at him.

"I never said I wasn't a cop, Dom. When you asked me, I didn't say anything and let you draw your own conclusions."

"Lying by omission is still lying, Buster."

Brian gave a mental wince. "I know."

_"This isn't the same, Brian. This lie is to save my life."_

"I just- I wanted you to know."

A heavy silence fell between them for a few minutes before Dom spoke again.

"Do you know what we're hauling?"

"Heroin. I'm the fourth they've sent under and the last three all came back in body bags. So just- Be careful."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"The FBI has been trying to shut this cartel down for two years. We still have no idea what Braga looks like, or even how old he is. If we had been just a little faster, or a little better, Letty never would have gotten involved.

"So how do you plan on bringing him down if you don't know who he is?"

"I'm still working on that."

"Do you know what happened to Letty?"

"I have my suspicions. We always lose our UCs when they make the run. Next time we see them, they're in body bags. Now, we thought they were getting made and that's why Braga had them killed. But after what happened with Letty, I'm not so sure. I think they're killing all the drivers after the run, regardless. Like Campos said, street racers are a dime a dozen, and that way, no one talks."

"And most of us don't have family who will miss them. Do you have a plan?"

"Maybe. I have a couple ideas, but it'll depend where we end up."

"I got your back, Bri."

"Yeah. And I got yours."

"Even if I kill them?"

Brian just looked over at Dom. "If they're dead, they can't contradict my testimony of self-defense."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Silence descended again while Dom studied Brian. "I let you down once, Dom," Brian said softly. "I'm not going to do it again.

Dom narrowed his eyes slightly before looking away.

"So am I worthy?" Brian asked with a grin.

The corner of Dom's mouth lifted. "Not yet. But you're in."

They were both silent, grinning, as they remembered their first race.

"Was that a set up?"

"The raid? Believe it or not, no. It was called in by a disgruntled pizza delivery boy who was late with the pizza and got fired. He wanted us to be as miserable as he was. I wasn't gonna not take advantage of it, though. And you took care of the rest when you invited me in."

"Yeah." Dom was silent for a moment, as if trying to decide what he wanted to ask. "Why us? Did you suspect me from the beginning?"

"No. Right up until we raided the Trans place, I was convinced you were too smart for that."

"You were at the Trans?"

"Full on Kevlar. It was after that night he tortured his fence. I told them to wait until I had some hard evidence, but they didn't listen."

"So, you didn't think it was me. Why'd you choose my family, then?"

"Do I look Hispanic or Vietnamese to you? No way in Hell I'dda been able to successfully infiltrate Hector or Tran's gangs fast enough or deep enough to get anything useful."

"Didn't hurt I had a pretty sister you could seduce, huh?"

Brian winced again. "Dom, I never meant to hurt Mia. I really did like her. I liked all of you and didn't want to believe you could possibly be involved. I thought I could have the best of both worlds. I didn't realize until it was too late that the family you had given me meant more to me than the detective's badge ever could have. If I could take it back, I would. I would have told you the truth that night outside of Hector's."

Dom was silent again. "You liked all of us, huh?" he finally asked with a smirk.

"Well, maybe not Vince," Brian admitted with a grin.

Dom let out a laugh that attracted the other two.

"Oh, I see how it is," Frick said. "You think you're too good to talk to the likes of us? Is that it?"

"What are you gonna do about it if it is?" Dom asked, getting out and moving so he could straighten to his full height. Brian silently did the same.

"Nothing, Man," Frack said, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him back.

"Come on, Buster," Dom said over his shoulder. "Tell me about your car."

They spent the rest of the eight hour trip discussing the safe topic of cars, with Letty throwing out the occasional random comment to see if she could get Brian to trip up. After a while, Ari and Austin got in on the act as well.

They reached their destination and Brain went back to his own car.

"Where we at, Austin?" he asked.

_"Same place as Letty, about thirty miles from the border."_

"Great. Oh, and Tish, I am so kicking your ass next time I see you."

_"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."_

"I mean it, Tish."

The goons opened the back of the truck and began unloading the cars.

Yashar went over the same last minute details that she had covered when Letty made the run.  
Dom asked about Fenix and Brian sent him a glare.

_"That's even worse than the questions about what you were hauling,"_ Letty said.

"Yeah, Dom would never cut it as a UC," Brian muttered, as Yashar gave the order to move out. "As much as I hate lying to him, we'd never be able to pull this off if he knew you were still alive.

_"Good luck, Bri. Ari and I are on the other side. Just in case you need us."_

"Fine. But stay hidden unless we absolutely need you. We still don't know who Braga is, which means all three of us would be in trouble."

_"Got it Arizona."_


	12. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,420/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So here’s the next chapter. The ending scene in this chapter is one of my favorites from the movie. I love how that little bit of dialogue carries through from the first movie. :D Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 12  
Things went downhill from almost the beginning. Shortly after Fenix showed up, they got tagged by the heat sensors at the border. When Yashar alerted them to that fact, Dom decided he didn’t want to be second from the end, and pulled out of line, speeding up past Frick and Frack.

“Shit,” Brian muttered, trying to ignore Yashar’s yammering over the radio, ordering Dom to get back in line.

Just before they entered the tunnels, Dom forced his way into the spot right behind Fenix. As they continued through the tunnels, Yashar kept yelling at them and telling them to hurry up, since border patrol was sending a helicopter, and that they needed to be out of sight before that happened.

Brian just wanted her to shut the fuck up because she was driving him crazy. Yeah, they knew they were in trouble, but her yelling at them wasn’t going to do anything to make it better. They couldn’t get out of there any faster than they were already going.

They came out the other side and as they disappeared behind one of the hills, Austin let him know that the helicopter had just arrived. He breathed a sigh of relief that they had made it in time, but he knew it wasn’t over yet.

He still had to deal with the confrontation at the drop off. He had no idea what he was going to do. He just hoped that Dom cooperated like he said he would.

Fenix finally came to a stop next to a hummer. The four drivers parked in a line, with Dom on one end and Brian on the other, leaving Frick and Frack in the middle. Fenix got out of his car, slamming the door shut and yelling something at them, but Brian waited until one of the goons banged on the top of his car before getting out.

As he shut the door, he met Dom’s gaze over the tops of the other three cars, receiving a wink from the other man. He mentally raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly Dom had planned, but he didn’t have time to think about it, because the goons were shoving Frick and Frack forward, guns aimed at the backs of their heads.

Frick and Frack were doing a lot of whining, telling the goons to get their hands off of them, but of course the goons didn’t listen. Brian almost felt bad about not caring whether they lived or died. Almost. His priority was keeping Dom alive. He didn’t care what happened to the others.

Fenix cocked his gun, aiming at Frick.

“Hey, Bossman,” Dom said, getting Fenix’s attention.

“What did you say?” Fenix demanded, taking two measured steps towards Dom.

“Don’t antagonize him, Dom,” Brian muttered.

“I said, only pussies run nitrometh.”

“You looked under my hood?” Fenix said.

_“He makes it sound like Papa watched him wank or something,”_ Letty said.

Brian shuddered. “Gee, thanks, Letty,” he snapped under his breath. “I so didn’t need that image in my head.”

“I’m talking to you,” Fenix said when Dom didn’t reply. “Got something on your mind?”

“Seventy Plymouth. Her name was Letty. And somebody wrecked her car.”

Fenix moved so he was standing directly in front of Dom. “I wrecked her car,” he said. “You remember her face? Huh? ‘cause I don’t. Last time I saw it, it was burning.”

_“Liar,”_ Letty said.

“Now what?” Fenix asked, a smirk on his face.

Dom just grinned smirked back. “I’m gonna enjoy what happens next,” he said, before lashing out suddenly and knocking the gun from Fenix’s hand.

It hit the sand and discharged, hitting Dom’s car, causing it to blow up, which created a chain reaction in the other three cars. Brian hit the dirt as the goons began firing, killing Frick and Frack where they stood. Brian lashed out with his legs, knocking one goon to the ground and grabbing the semi from the man’s hand, hitting him in the face with the butt of the weapon.

_“Brian, what’s happening! Are you okay? Talk to me!”_ Letty exclaimed.

He stayed down and began picking off the goons one by one, until there were only two left. Fenix had taken off as soon as the fight started, and Dom was dealing with the last two. Brian raced towards the hummer, getting into the driver’s seat. He pulled the vehicle around to see Dom punching one goon in the face.

“Dom, get in!” he called through the open passengers’ side window.

Dom glanced around, obviously searching for Fenix.

“Get in! Come on!” Brian repeated. He heard sirens approaching, but still Dom hesitated. “Come on! Get in the fucking car! Let’s go! Hurry up!”

Finally, Dom got in the hummer. Brian didn’t even wait for him to close the door all the way before peeling out of there. He wanted to be as far from the scene as possible before the helicopters arrived.

_“Brian, if you don’t talk to me right now, I’m coming to you,”_ Letty threatened.

“Are you okay?” Brian asked, looking over at Dom.

“Yeah,” Dom said. They drove in silence for a few minutes before Dom spoke up again. “Fenix got away.”

Brian nodded. “We’ll get him, Dom,” he said. “I promise.”

Dom merely grunted.

Brian drove them to a small town and came to a stop under an overpass.

“What are you doing?”

“I gotta call my boss. I had to kill the tracker back at the warehouse. They’re probably flipping out by now.”

“Hn.” Dom got out of the hummer and went around to the back while Brian pulled out his cellphone.

“Talk to me, O’Conner,” Penning said over the phone. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I got the shipment,” Brian said, avoiding the question.

“I got the shipment? Or we got the shipment?”

_Shit,_ Brian thought. “What are you talking about?”

“Traffic cams in the area picked up pictures of you and Toretto together.” Penning paused, but Brian didn’t say anything. He wasn’t giving anything away. “Listen to me, O’Conner. Bring in the shipment, and bring in Toretto.”

“I thought the point was to get Braga. We’ve got an opportunity here.”

“Brian, the clock stopped ticking. Bring them in. Are we clear?”

Brian had stopped listening by this time, because he had seen a trail of blood leading from the passenger’s door to the back of the hummer.

“O’Conner?”

He flipped the phone shut as he made his way back to Dom.

“So this is what sixty million looks like.”

“Yeah,” Brian agreed, distractedly. “We got to get you to a doctor.”

_“What? What happened? Talk to me, Buster!”_ Letty demanded.

“We got to find a place to hide this,” Dom disagreed.

_“No, Dom! If you’re hurt, go to the hospital! Don’t you dare listen to him, Arizona! I’ll kick your ass myself!”_

Brian hesitated, but Dom’s gaze was pinning him in place, burning through him. “I got a spot,” he said.

They got back into the hummer and Brian drove them back to LA, heading straight for the impound lot. When they got there, he held up his badge. “Five-oh-two, wet reckless,” he said. “I need a forty-eight hour hold.”

The guard glanced at Dom before nodding and jerking his thumb towards the lot. “Out back,” he said. “Any spot you can find.”

Brian pulled through and found an empty space near the back of the lot.

“You sure about this?” Dom asked, skepticism in his voice as he stood in front of the hummer, looking at Brian with one eyebrow raised.

Brian nodded. “Yeah. The last place they’ll check? Their own impound yard. Trust me.”

Dom hesitated, but nodded and the two of them began walking towards the gate, side by side.

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Brian said finally, breaking the silence.

Dom looked at him and raised his eyebrow again.

“When you blew up your car back there, you blew up mine, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. So now, you owe _me_ a ten second car.”

Letty burst out laughing in his ear, but Brian kept his face serious.

“Is that right?” Dom asked, looking at Brian in consideration.

“Yeah,” Brian said, allowing a small smirk to play on his lips.

Dom shook his head with a wry grin and led him over to a beat up Subaru Impreza WRX STI and used his elbow to break the window before opening the door and motioning for Brian to get in.

“Now, we’re even,” he said with a grin.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,085/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** Hey, Everyone. I just wanted to say thanks for the reviews I’ve gotten over the last couple of days. I appreciate it. Anyway, this scene. It hurts my heart just a little every time I watch it. It’s just so- *cries* Except at the same time, it’s also one of the hottest scenes in the entire movie. So hot, in fact, that part of it gets edited out whenever it’s played on TV.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter rather hurt to write. But let me know what y’all think.  
> Fae

Chapter 13  
Brian opened the door to his place, letting Mia in.

“Is this your way of keeping me away from him?” she asked.

Brian was only just able to hide his wince at the reminder of the disastrous conversation at the café three days prior. Had it really only been three days? It felt like so much longer.

“You’re the only one I could call,” he said, instead of answering. Not entirely true, but he wasn’t going to tell them about Austin, Ari and Letty until he absolutely had to.

“He’s my brother,” Mia said, as if that explained everything. “Of course I’d come.”

Brain leaned back against the wall while Mia examined Dom’s shoulder.

“The bullet’s not in there,” she said. “I’m going to clean it, and stitch it up. It’s going to hurt.”

“I bet you’re going to enjoy this,” Dom said, exchanging smirks with Brian.

“A little,” Mia said with a smirk of her own.

Brian left the siblings to it and called for Chinese. When it arrived, he made sure to block the delivery boy’s view inside. The three of them sat down around the table. Brian felt slightly awkward. He hadn’t parted from Mia on good terms, and unlike with Dom, he hadn’t had the chance to clear the air with her yet.

Not really, at any rate.

“You want some of this?” Mia asked Dom.

“Yeah.”

“It’s spicy.”

“I like it hot,” Dom said, reaching to take some of the food.

“Dom, what are you doing?” Mia asked, tapping the back of his hand with her chopsticks.

He stared at her like she had grown a second head.

“You reached first, you have to say grace,” Mia explained.

Dom raised an eyebrow and looked over at Brian, who merely shrugged. It had been Dom’s rule five years ago, so there was nothing he could say about it now.

Dom gave in and closed his eyes. “Thank you, Lord, for blessing this table.”

“With food, family and friendship,” Mia finished, when it was clear Dom wasn’t going to say anything else.

Dinner was a rather awkward affair, with none of them really sure what to say to each other. Brian had absolutely no intention of talking to Dom about what had happened during the run. Not with Mia sitting there. And there was no way he was going to try and clear the air with Mia while Dom was sitting there.

It was obvious that the siblings didn’t want to clear the air with him sitting there, either.

When they finally finished and got cleaned up, Brian and Mia sat at the table, while Dom disappeared towards the bedroom.

Brian stared at the table for several long moments before he began talking. “You asked me why I let Dom go,” he began. “I think it’s because at that moment, I respected him more than I did myself.”

That wasn’t all of it, but there was no way in hell he was admitting to her that he let Dom go because he was in love with the man.

“Yeah?” Mia asked.

“One thing I learned from Dom is that nothing really matters unless you have a code.”

“And what’s your code, Brian?” Mia asked, reaching out and touching his hand.

He shook his head. “I’m working on it,” he said, looking up and meeting her eyes.

A few seconds later, his phone started ringing and he pulled it out, glancing at the screen.

_Letty._

His eyes widened and he glanced down to where Dom was sitting on the bed, staring at him.

“Shit,” he muttered. He stood as Dom began stalking towards him. “Hey, Dom,” he began.

“When were you gonna tell me?” Dom demanded.

“Dom, what are you doing?” Mia asked, standing as well.

“When were you gonna tell me you were running Letty?” Dom demanded again, grabbing Brian by the shoulders and slamming him against the wall, his forearm pressed against Brian’s throat.

“Let me explain-“ Brian tried, only to get cut off again.

“When were you gonna-“ Dom was too furious to even finish as he pressed against Brian even harder.

“Dom, stop!” Mia cried, pressing herself back against the wall.

“You don’t understand!” Brian tried again.

“I don’t understand?!” Dom growled.

Brian mentally winced, knowing there was no reasoning with him at the moment. He reached out with one hand and pushed against Dom’s chin. He wasn’t going to fight Dom, but he had to get some space between them, to try and make Dom see reason.

“Stop!” Mia cried again.

Brian broke away from Dom’s hold, only to be thrown through the bookshelf. He hit the ground hard, and blinked to clear his gaze. Before he could move, Dom was crouching over him, punching, and in that moment, Brian had a clear flash of what Lindner must have felt as Dom leaned over him with a torque wrench.

Brain didn’t want to fight Dom, but he had no idea what to do. Mia didn’t need to see this, and he didn’t want Dom to have this on his conscious. He wrapped his legs around Dom’s neck, applying pressure and hoping to get Dom to at least slow down.

To his surprise, Dom merely straightened up, pulling Brian completely up off the ground. He only had a few seconds to brace himself before Dom slammed him back down, and this time, he was unable to hide his wince.

“Stop it!” Mia cried, tears obvious in her voice.

That was enough. He didn’t want to do this to Dom, but he also didn’t want Mia to cry. “She did it for-“ Brian tried, only to be cut off when Dom’s fist hit his jaw.

“Dom, stop it! Please stop!”

Dom hit him a few more times before Brian was able to get out what he wanted to say. “She did it for you, Dom!” he cried.

Dom froze and released him, backing away.

“She did it for you!” Brian remained on the ground, staring up at him and allowing his guilt and pain to show in his eyes. “Letty came to me to clear your name in exchange for bringing down Braga. She just wanted you to come home!”

Dom stared at him with wide eyes, then looked at Mia for a long moment before he turned and stalked towards the bedroom.

“I’m sorry, Dom!” Brian called after him. “I’m sorry!” He kicked at the fallen chair next to him before turning onto his side, his back to Mia.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 998/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So, the writers totally dropped the ball on this one. After that fight in the trailer, Dom and Brian really needed the chance to clear the air before going after Braga. So I took the liberty of fixing that. :D Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 14  
Brian spent a restless night, unable to sleep. Just before dawn, he got up and left the building. He sat down on the grass, leaning back against the wall to watch the sunrise. He didn’t know what to do. He felt horrible withholding the truth from Dom and Mia, but he knew that he couldn’t risk telling them until after he and Dom had taken Braga down.

He refused to put Letty in any more danger than she already was, even though it was killing him to hurt Dom like this.

He had no idea how long he had been sitting there when he heard the door open. The other man didn’t say anything as he came over and stood next to him.

Brian remained seated and loose, refusing to tense up, despite feeling the weight of the other man’s gaze on the top of his head. There was no way he was going to hurt Dom. He had said his piece last night. If Dom still wanted to kill him after sleeping on it, and now that Mia was gone, he wouldn’t stop him.

To his surprise, Dom merely sighed and sat down next to him, stretching one leg out in front of himself and keeping the other one bent, resting his arm on his knee.

“That’s what you were talking about in the truck,” Dom said, making it a statement, rather than a question.

Brian nodded. “Yeah,” he said softly. “And I am so sorry. She called me when she was running from Fenix and I got there as soon as I could, but I couldn’t get there in time. I swear to you, Dom, I had no idea until after the fact. If I had known, I never would have let her make the run. At the very least, I wouldn’t have let her make it alone.”

“Why didn’t you know?”

“FBI doesn’t trust me around your crew any more than you do. They let me in, but they didn’t want me within five hundred miles of LA. They didn’t even give me a chance until after Letty came to me for help. She refused to run for anyone else, and even then, I had to do a _lot_ of groveling before they agreed to let me come back. I got thrown into the case after the first two UCs had already been killed, and I didn’t have all the information.”

“Everything else you told me?”

“Everything I told you was the truth. It was just ambiguous enough that you only heard what you expected to hear, rather than what I was truly saying. I’m sorry.”

Dom nodded slowly and they sat in silence for a while longer.

“I really am sorry, Dom. I had a hand in tearing your family apart once before, and I hate that I had a part in doing it again.”

“You didn’t tear my family apart, Bri. I did. You may have lied to me, but you did your level best to protect us. I’m aware that if it weren’t for you, V would have died on the side of that road. You got him off that truck when I couldn’t. And you being a cop was the only thing that saved his life. You avenged Jesse when I couldn’t. And then you let me go when you had every right to take me in. I couldn’t have stopped you. And I deserved it.”

“I owed it to you. For lying to you.”

“You know, I was mad. I was absolutely furious. But I was more angry with myself. I knew. I _knew_ that night at Hector’s. I knew V was right. But then- you opened your mouth and I just couldn’t believe that a cop could be that stupid.”

The corner of Brian’s mouth quirked up in a self-deprecating smile. “Yeah. When I was younger, I got used to playing up the dumb blond stereotype. The blond hair, blue eyes, pretty face. ‘s all anyone ever saw anyway. They never took me seriously. So I stopped trying. It gave me an edge.”

“It definitely did.”

They went silent again, watching the last of the sunrise.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Yeah,” Brian said, nodding. “A hand to hand exchange with Braga. The product for six mil. He gets his product, we get an ID. The FBI takes him down. And you walk.”

“I walk?” Dom asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Your help at the meet in exchange for your freedom.”

“You think they’ll go for it?”

“Who? Braga, or the FBI?”

“Either. Both.”

“Braga can’t afford not to. And the FBI won’t get the product without you.”

“They could get it from you.”

Brian shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “Because I don’t know where you hid it.” He shrugged. “’s what I’d tell them, at any rate.”

He could feel Dom studying him, but he didn’t turn his head. He didn’t want to risk Dom seeing anything in his eyes.

“Just what did I do to earn that kind of loyalty?” Dom muttered.

It was low, though, and Brian ignored it, knowing it was a rhetorical question on Dom’s part.

“When are we going to do this?”

“You still have Yashar’s number, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I have to go into the office in an hour. I’ll arrange things with Penning then you can call Yashar. After the clusterfuck last night, chances are she’s with Campos. At the very least, she’ll be able to get a hold of him.”

“I arrange the meet, and then go sit, surrounded by FBI, and hope that Braga shows up?”

“I didn’t let them have you before. I won’t let them get you this time, either.”

He could feel Dom’s gaze on the side of his face again and this time he turned, meeting the other man’s stare head on, letting Dom see his determination. Dom searched his face for several long moments before nodding.

“All right,” he said. “I trust you.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,151/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So here’s the next chapter. I’m not overly thrilled with this. I love Sophie and she was always meant to be a sympathetic character, but Penning sort of crept his way into the story as a good guy, too. Not necessarily nice, because he’s still an asshole, but he’s not- Well, I’ll just let you read it and let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 15  
An hour later, Brian was making his way into the FBI building. He kept his gaze straight ahead as he headed towards Penning’s office, not letting the stares and whispers from the other Agents get to him.

He and Dom were good. That’s all he needed.

He sat in Penning’s office, with Penning standing over him while Stasiak and Sophie were behind him.

“You better have one hell of an explanation. You disobeyed a direct order,” Penning said.

Brian remained silent and just looked up at his boss.

“Where’s the shipment?”

“It’s safe.”

“It’s safe,” Penning repeated with a scoff.

“Look, we could use the shipment to parade in front of the media, get a few hundred pounds of heroin off the street, but Braga’s just gonna send another shipment next week and the week after that. Let’s use the shipment to lure Braga out and lop the head off of a multi-billion dollar cartel.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Penning asked, moving back to sit on the corner of his desk.

Brian looked at him for several long moments. “A hand to hand exchange with Braga.”

“He’ll never show.”

“He can’t afford not to,” Brian corrected.

“You got a plan?”

Brian nodded. “There’s a price,” he said.

Penning raised an eyebrow.

“We bag Braga, you let Toretto walk.”

He heard Stasiak scoff in the background.

“Why is the plan dependent on Toretto walking?”

“He’s got what I need to put it into play.”

“Which is what?”

“Direct line to Gisele Yashar. She won’t answer a call from me. She will from him.”

“How do you know?”

“She’s got a crush on him.”

Again, he heard Stasiak scoff, but he could see that Penning was seriously considering it.

“There’s no evidence from the hijacking case. And that last trucker never came forward. All you have is hearsay and circumstantial evidence. The only people who got hurt were his own crew. The drugs that Braga is sending in are killing hundreds every week. Who’s the more dangerous criminal?”

Penning stared at him, his eyes narrowed in consideration. Finally, he nodded. “Fine,” he said. “We get Braga, Toretto walks. We drop the charges but he better stay out of trouble, because next time, I will come down on him for everything I can possibly throw at him.”

Brian gave a mental sigh of relief and nodded. “I’ll tell him.”

“When do you plan on setting this up?”

“As soon as I leave here, I’ll let him know to call Yashar. They’ll set up a meet and I’ll give you a call with the location. You get SWAT in place and you can have the product. When Braga shows, we’ll make sure it’s him and give the signal. SWAT comes in, takes Braga down, and Toretto walks.”

“And you? Do you come back without this split loyalty? Or do you keep hanging on to the past?”

Brian remained silent, unable to answer that to Penning’s satisfaction.

Penning studied him again and apparently saw whatever it was he was expecting to see. “I see,” he said. “All right, O’Conner. This is your show. But if this gets screwed up, it’s your ass on the line.”

“It always has been,” he said.

“I suppose it has. Go. Meet up with Toretto and get the meet set up. You call me as soon as he gets off the phone with Yashar.”

“Only if Campos is with her. We may need to wait for him to call us back. But as soon as I have something definite, you will be the first to know.”

“I better be. I took a huge risk reading you in on this op in the first place. Don’t make me regret trusting you even more.”

Brian knew he couldn’t guarantee that, so he said nothing as he left the office and headed back out to his car.

“I think he knows,” he said as he drove away from the building.

“ _That you’re in love with Dom?”_

“That I’ll choose Dom if I have to.”

_“And yet he’s still letting you do this?”_

“Penning’s a good guy. And he’s willing to bend the rules a little, if necessary. He’ll do what he can to keep Dom out of prison, even if this goes shitty.”

_“Huh,”_ Letty said, bemused.

Brian arrived at the garage Dom was hiding out at, to find the other man tuning the STI.

“They go for it?” Dom asked.

Brian nodded. “They did. You’re up.”

Dom took a deep breath and straightened up, moving over off to the side, pulling out his cell phone as he went. Brian sat down next to the STI and began tinkering with it, getting it ready for anything that might happen at the meet.

“It’s Dom,” the other man said, in response to whatever Yashar must have said. “What circumstances? Me being alive?”

Brian raised an eyebrow and sent a questioning glance in Dom’s direction.

Dom just shook his head. “I got some business of my own. Get Campos.”

Brian held his breath, hoping that Campos was there, and that they wouldn’t have to wait for him to call them back.

“Was that how Braga inspires loyalty? Killing his drivers?” Dom paused while Campos answered. “I want to trade.”

Brian wished Dom would put the damn thing on speaker. He wanted to know what was being said on the other end of the conversation.

“Fine,” Dom said with a scoff. “You explain to him how all of a sudden sixty million worth of product disappears. I know that can’t be good for business.”

There was another silence before Dom’s shoulders relaxed and he nodded. “Six million cash, delivered by Braga himself.”

Dom’s grip tightened on the phone. “I don’t like being shot at,” Dom said.

Brian growled under his breath. He didn’t like Dom being shot at, either.

“I ain’t gonna put my neck out again unless he’s got something to lose, too.”

There was another silence and Brian could tell that Dom didn’t like whatever the answer was.

“Either I deal with Braga, or you do.”

After another tense silence, slightly longer than before, Dom relaxed completely and began telling Campos the time and location they had agreed upon.

It was a parking garage on the outskirts of LA in a slightly rundown neighborhood. There were plenty of places for SWAT to hide unnoticed, but there were also plenty of options for Dom, in case he needed to flee.

While he was doing that, Brian pulled out his own phone and moved to the other side of the garage so he could call Penning and get things set up on that end.

Dom finished his conversation first, and was working on the car when Brian hung up.

“You really think this will work?” Dom asked as Brian continued what he had been working on before.

“Guess we’ll find out,” he said.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,076/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So, yeah. I really suck at updating things, even when I have the story completed. Wow. I can’t believe it’s been so long since I got around to updating. I didn’t mean for it to be so long. Sorry. Anyway, here’s the next chapter. The meet between Dom and Brian, and Campos/Braga. Stupid Stasiak.  
>  Fae

Chapter 16  
Later that night, after the sun went down, Dom and Brian were at the meet point. They had the hummer positioned behind them, the back doors open and the locker on the floor next to the vehicle, while the STI was over to the side, in the perfect position to take off quickly if necessary.

Stasiak had shown up to collect the product, shipping it back to the office with two agents.

Brian had watched in amusement as Stasiak had tried to pretend that Dom didn’t intimidate him, but it was obvious to both of them that the other agent was absolutely terrified of Dom.

When Dom had seen the bruising around Stasiak’s eyes, he had raised an eyebrow in Brian’s direction, but Brian had merely smirked. There was no way he was letting Dom know that Stasiak had kept Mia in holding overnight. Not while the other agent was in the vicinity, at any rate.

Stasiak disappeared back to wherever he had set up surveillance and Brian signaled for Austin to jam the signals on the mics he and Dom were wearing while they made some last minute arrangements of their own.

“Well, the good news is, when we get this guy, you walk out of here a free man,” Brian said, looking at Dom.

“Is that what they told you?” Dom asked with a scoffing laugh.

“Yeah, that’s the deal.”

“You still put out milk and cookies for Santa Claus?”

Brian gave a wry smile at the mocking amusement he heard in Dom’s voice. “Yeah,” he said with a sigh. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his back-up plan. “Here,” he said, holding the key out to Dom without looking at him. “In case things go shitty.”

Dom took the key and looked at it for a moment. “Just like old times?”

“Yeah,” Brian agreed, glancing over at him. “Showtime,” he said as three cars pulled up in front of them, which was Austin’s signal to unjam the mics

Fenix got out of his car, saying something in Spanish that Brian didn’t care enough to bother translating.

“You dropped something,” Fenix said, taunting Dom as he held out a gun. “That’s what you wanted, right?”

Dom took a step forward, but Brian put a hand on his arm. “Dom,” he said, shaking his head slightly when Dom looked at him.

Campos got out of the second car and said something to Fenix in Spanish before turning to Dom and Brian. “He’s harmless,” he said with a mocking smirk. “Don’t worry about him. And he’s really sorry about Letty.”

_“I bet he is,”_ Letty muttered.

Brian narrowed his eyes slightly. Something about Campos wasn’t sitting right with him. There was something in his smirk that was setting Brian on edge.

“Where’s our stuff?” Campos asked.

Brian studied him for a moment longer before going over to the locker. “You mean the stuff that used to be in here, right?” he said, opening the lid and revealing that it was empty. “Well, you’ll see it, when we see Braga. That was the deal.”

“No worries,” Campos said, spreading his arms. “Braga keeps his word.”

The older gentleman from the club got out of the third car with a duffle bag and made his way towards them. He tossed the bag on the ground at their feet. “Two million. You get the rest when I get my property.”

_“Trinh just told Stasiak that the fingerprint was Braga’s. She said they’re waiting on photo confirmation, but do you really think Stasiak is going to wait?”_ Austin said. _“Confirm that man is Braga before Stasiak does something stupid.”_

Brian studied the man claiming to be Braga. Something about this didn’t seem right. It seemed too easy. “I got a question for you,” he asked. “Were you wearing pink when you were clawing your way out of el barrio?”

The man narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side in confusion.

That was all the confirmation Brian needed, but he wanted to know what Dom thought. “You’re thinking what I’m thinking, right?” he asked, not taking his eyes off of the man in front of him.

“He ain’t Braga,” Dom said.

Before anyone had any time to move, the SWAT team came storming in, guns blazing. Brian immediately pulled the man in the gray suit down and covered him with his body. Even if they couldn’t get Braga himself, they would be able to get some useful information out of this man.

In all of the confusion, Brian saw that Dom was just standing there, obviously wanting to go after Fenix, but unwilling to get involved in the gun battle going between Braga’s guys and the FBI.

“Get out of here!” Brian yelled at Dom, waving towards the STI. “Get out of here, Dom!” he yelled again.

Dom looked at him and hesitated.

“Go!” he shouted.

_“Shit! Campos is Braga! Buster, Campos is Braga!”_ Letty exclaimed.

Brian mentally swore, before calling after Dom. “Campos is Braga!” he said, catching sight of the sadistic sneer on Campos’ face as he got into Fenix’s car.

Fenix sped towards the exit, nearly running Yashar over, until Dom tackled her out of the way. He pushed her into the STI and looked back at Brian again.

Brian shook his head and waved him to go on. He’d be okay, but Dom wouldn’t be if he stuck around.

Dom hesitated a moment longer before nodding and getting into the car. He took off just before SWAT blocked off the exit.

Two members came over and secured the old man, and he left them to it, mentally calling down every curse he knew on Stasiak. The fucking idiot was too focused on one-upping him that he completely ignored protocol and sent SWAT in without waiting for confirmation from either him, or Sophie.

He knew he’d get his share of flak from IA regarding this screw up, but there was no way he was going to let Stasiak get away with blowing the sting like that. They would have fucking had Braga if that fucking asshole hadn’t screwed up.

Oh, how he wished Stasiak was in front of him right now. He’d love to wring the idiot’s scrawny little neck. His growls and glowers kept SWAT from approaching him as he stomped over to the hummer and drove off, heading back to the office to deal with the fallout of Stasiak’s fuck up.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 987/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So, apparently I really suck at updating, even when I have a story completed. I didn’t mean for it to take so long since the last update. I just got distracted by other things. I’m really bad about that. But I will make a note to myself to post a new chapter every two days, so that this story should be finished by next Wednesday, at which point I will start posting the oneshot sequels that I’ve finished. I’m still working on the FF sequel to this story, but it’s going slowly, as I kinda lost inspiration for a while there.
> 
> Also, I have no idea where the second half of this chapter came from. When I wrote it originally, I had something else happen, but then I killed my flashdrive and lost the last half of the story, so I had to rewrite it. Except the last half of this chapter- didn’t actually exist in the first draft. I have no idea where it came from.
> 
> And, um. Yeah. So, here’s the next chapter, dedicated to the brilliant Paul Walker, who will be greatly missed. The franchise is never going to be the same without Brian O’Conner.  
> Fae

Chapter 17  
Brian sat in the conference room back at the office, his face a blank mask as he stared at the table.

“He was under your nose the whole time. Now Braga’s escaped. Toretto’s heading south, probably long across the border by now. Do you have any idea the kind of trouble you’re in, O’Conner?”

“I was doing my job,” Brian said, inwardly fuming.

The fucking IA investigator had refused to listen to him about Stasiak, and now he was going to take the fall for the entire screw up. Once this was over, he was handing in his badge and gun. There was no way he could continue working for the FBI if they were going to blame him for all of this.

“He ain’t the first bad guy you’ve helped escape the law’s grasp.”

Brian clenched his jaw, but didn’t say anything. He hadn’t had anything to do with Braga’s escape. The only person he had ever helped escape was Dom.

“As of now, you’re being taken off active duty, until this house can mount a formal inquiry.”

Yeah, like that would actually do its job. They would be gunning for him going into the inquiry, and he would take the fall. No way was he going to let that happen.

“What about Braga?” he asked, instead of showing his fury.

“That’s no longer your concern.”

The two IA investigators left the room, leaving the four man team who had been heading up this operation.

“We now know where Braga is, right?” Brian asked as Penning moved to sit across from him, Sophie and Stasiak.

“Customs tracked him via satellite to his home base in Tecali, Mexico,” Sophie said.

“Mexico is out of our jurisdiction,” Penning said.

It was slight, but Brian could hear the apology in the other man’s voice.

“The fact is, the brass will be so busy holding press conferences over the seizure, we’ll skate under the radar.”

“I thought we signed on to do the right thing,” Brian said.

Penning held his gaze. “If you can figure out some way to get him back across the border, we can. Like it or not, our hands are tied.”

“And if I can?” Brian asked.

“You and what army?” Stasiak asked with a scoff.

“You know what, Stasiak, you just shut up. If you hadn’t been so fucking cocky and determined to one-up me, Fenix and Braga wouldn’t have gotten away. You were supposed to wait for my signal.”

“Hey,” Penning said.

Brian subsided and leaned back in his chair.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Maybe. And it won’t take an army. Just two.”

“Toretto.”

Brian nodded.

“You know where he went?”

“I could make a guess,” Brian replied.

“But you won’t.”

“But I won’t,” he agreed.

“What is it about Toretto?” Stasiak demanded. “He’s a fucking monster! You’ve seen his jacket!”

Brian growled and rounded on Stasiak again, but again, Penning stopped him.

“What do you have in mind?”

“I can’t say.”

Penning studied him for a moment. “You sure he’ll help?”

“Oh, he’ll help. He holds Braga directly responsible for what happened to Letty.”

“Let me rephrase that. You sure he’ll help bring Braga across the border, and not just kill him where he stands?”

Brian remained silent and Penning nodded.

“I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know any of it. And I certainly don’t want to know what happens when you’re over there. Give me your badge and gun. You’ll get them back after the inquiry.”

Brian stood and set his badge and gun on the table, sliding them across to Penning. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” he said.

Penning nodded. “I know. Just like I know I can’t stop you, so I’m not even going to try. Just be careful.”

“I will. And thanks. For everything.”

He left the conference room and headed to his office, boxing up his personal things. As he left the building, he ran into Sophie.

“Brian, what are you doing?” she asked, taking in the box in his arms.

“I’m on suspension, Sophie,” he said. “It’s SOP to clear out your desk while on suspension. That way, if the inquiry comes back guilty, I don’t have to come back to get my stuff.”

“But they can’t blame you for everything. Stasiak is the one who screwed up.”

“My record’s against me. It always has been. That’s all they’re going to see when they look at the case. Besides, it was my sting. It doesn’t matter if someone else screwed up. My sting, my neck on the block.”

“You sound like you’re not coming back.”

“I don’t think I am,” he said.

“Not even if they clear you?”

“Not even if they clear me. The other agents will never forget that I let Toretto run again. They won’t trust me. And I’ll always have to wonder if backup will show.”

“I would.”

“I know you would, Sophie,” he said, offering her a small smile. “But you’re not a field agent. I may take a lot of stupid risks, but that’s one that I won’t take.”

“I’ll miss you,” she said.

“I’ll miss you, too. You’re a great friend, Soph. I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

She gave him a sad smile. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

He left the building and headed back to his place. He didn’t have much. Most of his stuff was in storage back East. He threw a couple of things in a box and some clothes in a duffle bag and put both in the trunk with the other box.

He spent the rest of the afternoon running through various routines that he had learned, working out his frustration. When the sun went down, he drove away from the building one last time, heading for the last place the FBI would ever look for Dom, knowing full well that that was where the other man would be.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,122/24,838  
>  **Warnings:** fairly explicit M/M action; moderate D/s overtones and implications  
>  **Author’s Note:** Okay, so- First of all, let me just give y’all a piece of advice: **do not read this chapter at work, around parents, younger siblings, little children, or your priest/pastor.**
> 
> Seriously.
> 
> I needed a cold shower after writing this. And it’s not even that they actually have sex. I mean, Dom is fully clothed, while Brian is mostly clothed. I honestly don’t know where this came from. It’s way more intense than I had originally planned.
> 
> Second, this is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The UST is all but visible between them. Then the writers had to go and ruin it by having Brian go sex up Mia in the kitchen. Stupid writers, and stupid Brian, and stupid Dom for letting his boy go after her.
> 
> And I decided to just go ahead and post a chapter a day, that way I won’t forget again. So, yeah. :D Enjoy. And let me know what y’all think. *crosses fingers*  
> Fae

Chapter 18  
Brian pulled into the driveway of the Toretto’s house and just sat in his car for a few minutes. God, did this place bring back memories. He hadn’t been back here since that fateful day when Jesse had been so ruthlessly gunned down on the sidewalk out front. The kid hadn’t deserved that. He had had so much going for him. He just wished there had been something he could have done to save him.

Sighing, he opened the door and got out, heading towards the garage where he could see the glow from a single light. He paused in the doorway and watched Dom bent over the open hood of the Charger, messing around with something.

“Everyone’s looking for you,” he said, moving into the garage.

“I’m right here,” Dom said, staring intently at something in the engine.

Brian wandered closer, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie. “It’s nice to see you’ve gone with the times and switched to electronic fuel injection,” he said when he saw the inside of the engine. “Looks good.”

Dom’s mouth curved into a faint smile. “Buster became a gearhead,” he said in a slightly mocking tone of voice.

Brian allowed himself a small grin and shrugged in assent. He watched Dom work in silence for a few minutes before speaking up again. “I’m going with you,” he said.

Dom’s hand tightened on the wrench and his lips thinned. “I don’t plan on bringing anyone back.”

“I know,” Brian said simply.

At that, Dom finally looked up at him, studying him closely. Finally, he crooked a finger, beckoning him forward.

Brian swallowed slightly under the intensity of that heated gaze, but silently moved forward so he was standing in front of Dom.

The other man turned him to face the car before stepping up behind him, his hands on Brian’s hips. Brian drew in a sharp breath at the feel of Dom’s cock pressed against his ass and pulled his hands out of his pockets to brace himself on the car.

“You still want to come with me, Bri?” Dom asked in his ear, his voice deeper and more gravely than normal. “I don’t plan on bringing _anyone_ back, and I sure as hell ain’t sharing you with my sister this time. You come with me, your ass is mine. Not Mia’s, not the Feds’, not even your own. Mine.”

“Yours,” Brian gasped, letting his head fall back against Dom’s shoulder as he ground his ass back against Dom’s groin. “Always have been, just didn’t know it.”

Dom let out a feral growl and pressed even farther against him, bending him over the open engine. Dom thrust his hips forward and Brian wished that there was nothing between them. He wanted Dom to fuck him and fuck him hard. This was what he had been looking for ever since he had woken up.

This overwhelming possession of his mind and body. He jerked his hips, trying to get friction against his cock.

Dom growled again and pulled back enough to smack his ass. “What part of ‘mine’ don’t you understand?” he demanded. “You don’t come without my permission.”

Brian whimpered but stilled his hips, and hung his head.

Dom moved back in and thrust against his ass again. This time, Brian forced himself to remain still, braced against the car and letting Dom use his body to get off.

“Good boy,” Dom whispered in his ear.

Brian shivered as heat pooled in his groin. He wanted to move; he wanted to do something, anything, but that wasn’t what Dom wanted, so he remained still.

Finally, Dom reached around his waist and opened the front of his pants, pushing them down enough so he could pull his cock out. Brian felt himself grow even harder in Dom’s callused and firm grip, but still didn’t move.

“You like that, Boy?” Dom asked, tightening his hold even more.

Brian whimpered again, trembling in Dom’s arms.

“Answer me when I ask you a question. You like that?”

“Yes, Sir,” Brian managed, his heart pounding and his breath coming in pants.

“Good answer.” Dom began pumping him, keeping a bruising hold on his hip with the other hand.

“I’m going to mark you. When I do, that’s when you can come. You got that?”

“Y- yes, Sir,” Brian gasped.

Dom bent over him, covering his body with his own, and began teasing the juncture between his neck and shoulder with his teeth and tongue. Brian drew on all of his training and experience to hold off his orgasm until he felt Dom’s teeth latch onto his neck.

As soon as he felt that, he gave in, letting it wash over him. When he finished coming, he slumped forward until his upper body was lying across the engine, his cheek pressed against a valve.

He didn’t care. He loved the feeling of Dom on top of him, owning him. He let his eyes drift closed as he lay there, loose and pliant for Dom to do whatever he desired.

Finally, Dom released his neck and cock and straightened up. He pulled Brian up and turned him around, pushing against his chest so he went sprawling backwards over the engine. He laid there, his cock hanging out and his skin flushed and sweaty. He didn’t care. He was Dom’s, and if this was how Dom wanted him, then this was how he’d stay.

Dom took his time running his gaze over Brian’s body, lingering on his cock longer than elsewhere.

“Look at me,” he ordered finally.

Brian opened his eyes and looked at Dom.

“I always wondered what this would be like. I wasn’t sure if you would let me,” he said, pressing forward and bending over him again.

“I don’t think I would have,” Brian admitted. “Like I said that night at the race. A lot has changed. I’ve changed. I’m not the same person I was before. The person I was five years ago wouldn’t have surrendered that easily.”

“I’m not surprised. You were a cocky little shit back then.”

Brian smirked. “Still am. Only difference is that now, I know who I am. I didn’t back then. I was still trying to find myself.”

“Hn,” Dom said, claiming a kiss. “I’m glad.”

They stayed there for a few minutes longer, just reveling in the closeness, before Dom straightened up. “Straighten yourself up. Mia went out for groceries, but she should be back any minute.”

Brian straightened as well and tucked himself back into his pants. When he was done, Dom stepped forward for another kiss, then went back to working on the car.

“Hit that throttle,” he said after they had worked in silence for several minutes.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,026/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So here’s the follow up to the last chapter, where I fix the mistake that Brian made in the movie. Let me know what y’all think.  
>  Fae

Chapter 19  
Just as Dom had speculated, a car pulled into the driveway not even ten minutes after they had gone back to work on the Charger. Brian glanced up to see Mia standing in the doorway, looking at the two of them, before disappearing up to the house.

He hesitated. He needed to clear the air with her, just in case something happened, but at the same time, he didn’t want Dom to think that he was still pining after Mia.

He felt Dom staring at him and looked over. Dom held his gaze for a moment before jerking his head towards the house. Brian gave him a thankful smile and slipped out of the garage. When he entered the house, he found Mia standing in the kitchen, unloading the bags she had brought home.

“Hey,” he said carefully.

Mia didn’t answer, but placed a bottle down on the counter slightly harder than was necessary.

“Hey, come here,” he said, moving closer and gently pulling her into his arms.

“How do you say goodbye to your only brother?” she asked, and he mentally cursed Dom when he heard the tears in her voice.

“You don’t,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll take care of him.”

She pulled back enough to look up at him. “You promise?”

“I promise.”

She searched his face for a few seconds before she leaned in for a kiss. At the last second, Brian turned his head, allowing her lips to land on his cheek. She pulled back, confused.

“I’m sorry,” he said simply, willing her to see in his eyes what he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud.

“It’s my brother, isn’t it?” she asked with a weary sigh.

He nodded. “I’m sorry. I really like you, Mia.”

“But you like him more.”

“Yeah.”

“This is why I don’t date my brother’s friends. Did you ever-“

“No. He was still with Letty and I was with you. I would never do that to any of you.”

“And now?”

“Now I- After she won the qualifying race, Letty said it was okay if I went after Dom once we got him home. She said that I was exactly what he needed. And that she didn’t mind.”

“What if I mind?”

“I- Mia, you liked Brian Spilner. And that’s not who I am. Brian O’Conner is a completely different person than the man you dated back then.”

“And Brian O’Conner is in love with my brother.”

Brian tensed momentarily, before letting his shoulders slump. “Yes,” he admitted. “Very much so.”

Mia sighed, but nodded. “Take care of him,” she said, pressing another kiss to his cheek.

“Are you all right with this?”

“I will be. Eventually. Just give me some time, okay?”

“Okay,” Brian agreed, pulling her against his chest and resting his cheek against the top of her head. They stood there for several minutes before a movement out of the corner of his eye caught Brian’s attention.

He looked over to see Dom standing in the doorway, staring at the two of them with an unreadable look in his eyes. Brian wondered just how long the other man had been standing there and just how much he had heard.

Mia must have sensed him, because she turned her head and reached out a hand to him. Dom slowly entered the kitchen and wrapped his arms around both of them, with Mia cradled between the two men.

“Take care of each other,” she said. “And be careful. I can’t go through another funeral.”

“We will, Mia,” Dom said, kissing the top of her head.

“You better be. Give me a call when you get settled so I know everything is okay. Stay out of trouble, and stay in touch. I’ll worry otherwise.”

“We’ll contact you as soon as we can,” Dom promised.

“Hey, Mia,” Brian said. “I’ve got a couple of boxes from my place. I was wondering if I could leave them here?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, pulling out of the hug and wiping her eyes. “Dom, do you want me to throw together a bag for you?”

“I’ll get it. Bri, let’s go get your boxes. You can keep them in my room.”

The two of them went out to Brian’s car and each retrieved a box from the trunk, then Brian followed Dom upstairs. Once inside the room, Dom set his box down in the closet, then took the second box from Brian and stacked it on top of the first.

Brian stood in the middle of the room, looking around. He hadn’t been in Dom’s room the last time around. Only Mia’s. The room was very Spartan, with only a handful of personal touches, like the photograph of the team, taken one afternoon when they were working on the Supra, and the photo of what he could only assume were Dom, Mia and their parents.

He felt Dom come up behind him, but didn’t turn.

“How long?” Dom asked.

Brian closed his eyes briefly. Of course Dom had heard that. “I don’t know,” he said. “I didn’t admit it to myself until Letty confronted me about it two weeks ago.”

“That why you let me go?”

“Not consciously. But, yes, I think so.”

Dom took the last step separating them, and pressed up against Brian’s back, his arms wrapping around Brian’s waist. “You and Letty?”

“Just once. After the race. She was horny and I helped her out. We were both using the other as a substitute for who we really wanted.”

“You imagined it was me.”

Brian nodded, letting his head drop back against Dom’s shoulder. “Yes. Not entirely successful, since she’s so tiny, but I managed.”

Dom turned his head slightly and bit down on Brian’s neck, the same place as he had earlier. Brian shuddered as the feeling rippled through him. “Never again, Bri,” Dom said. “Like I said, I don’t share.”

“I know,” Brian said. “I have what I wanted. I have no interest in anyone else.”

“Good,” Dom said before tightening his hold and reattaching his mouth to Brian’s neck, making sure to leave a large mark.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,155/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** So, here’s the second to last chapter. Like I said when I posted it over on FF, apparently Brian is more of a kinky SOB than I originally thought. I have no idea where this came from, but I kinda like it.
> 
> And I can’t really tell for sure from the camera angle, but I’m like ninety percent certain that in the scene with Gisele, Dom looks at Brian when she tells him going after Braga is suicide and he replies that he's got no choice. He wasn't thinking about Letty at all. :D
> 
> Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
> Fae

Chapter 20  
Brian and Dom left the house shortly before dawn and headed for the border. A few miles from the crossing, they pulled off the road and up onto a dirt trail that overlooked the road. They both got out and leaned against their cars, waiting for Yashar to arrive.

Dom had called her before they left, asking for her help in tracking Braga. Seeing as he had saved her life at the blown sting, she had agreed.

They waited about half an hour before she finally showed.

“I thought you weren’t gonna show up,” Dom said as she got out of her car and approached him.

“You saved my life. I’m willing to return the favor,” Yashar replied in a sultry tone.

Brian scoffed. She really needed to get it through her head. Dom hadn’t been interested in her back at the club, and he wasn’t interested in her now.

Dom must have heard his response, because he looked over and raised a pointed eyebrow before turning back to Yashar.

“This will get you to Braga,” she said, pressing the paper into his hand.

He took it and made to move, but she stopped him.

“Dom,” she said, putting her hand on his arm. “Going in there is suicide.”

Dom met Brian’s gaze. “I got no choice,” he said.

“You must have loved her very much,” Yashar said, touching his cheek.

He looked down at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Viya con dias,” she said before leaning up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. She left them alone, getting into her car and driving back down to cross the border back into Mexico.

Brian stared out over the crossing. “So this is where my jurisdiction ends,” he said.

“And this,” Dom said, holding up the slip of paper, “is where mine begins. Last chance, Buster,” he said. “We cross that border and there is no going back.”

“I thought we crossed that line last night in the garage. You tellin’ me you’d let me go, even after that?”

“Ain’t gonna force ya to throw away your life. I want it. Bad. But I won’t make you do anything you don’t want.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I want it, then, huh?” Brian replied, sending a cocky smirk over at Dom.

Dom growled. “Don’t go writing checks your body can’t cash, O’Conner,” he said.

“Well, let’s go get this son of a bitch so I can,” Brian retorted.

Dom shook his head with a snort and got into the Charger. Brian got into the STI and followed the black car as they headed back down to the main road.

 _“Careful, there, Buster,”_ Letty said. _“You’re waving a red flag in front of the bull, and this bull is one piece of work.”_

“I can take it,” Brian said confidently. “Now shut up and let Ari get us over the border.”

With Ari controlling the computers, the two of them made it through the crossing with no trouble, and they were soon on their way to Tecali. They pulled up to the back of the church Yashar had said Braga would be at that afternoon, and parked out of sight.

They were early, so they crept into the back and hid in the vestibule, managing to stay out of sight of the priest. Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending on your point of view- they ended up pressed closer together than Brian would have liked.

Dom was once again pressed up against his back, one hand flat on his stomach, under his shirt, while the other held the shotgun. He knew it was strange, but he couldn’t help but be even more turned on by the gun, something that Dom noticed, the fucking bastard.

He turned Brian around, pressing him back against the wall and raising the shotgun.

Brian swallowed, his pupils dilating.

“You like that, Boy?” Dom asked, tracing his nipple with the muzzle of the shotgun.

He remembered the lesson from the previous night and nodded. “Y- yes,” he breathed.

“You like knowing the gun is loaded and could go off at any time?”

Brian locked his eyes on Dom’s. “I trust you,” he offered.

Dom’s eyes darkened with lust, but before they could do anything further, they heard the front door of the church open, and two voices speaking in Spanish. The look Dom sent him as he pulled away was pure lust, and dark promise, and Brian had to close his eyes to try and reign in his body’s response.

He heard the priest go through the traditional Catholic blessing, then the sound of a door closing. He looked over at Dom, who nodded and led the way out into the church.

“You ain’t forgiven,” he said, cocking the shotgun and aiming it at Braga’s head.

The man was kneeling at the altar, and he looked at them, startled.

“You boys want to arrest me?” Braga asked with a sneer, before adding, _“In here?”_ in Spanish.

“No, we’re beyond that,” Brian said, after glancing at Dom.

He shot Braga a look, then returned his attention to the door, wanting to be ready, just in case Braga’s goons decided to come in. He wasn’t going to stop Dom, if the other man wanted to shoot the bastard. He would rather it didn’t happen in a church, but he wasn’t going to stand in Dom’s way.

“You can’t buy your way out of this one,” Dom said.

“You and me,” Braga began, only to reel back slightly as Dom took another step forward, until the muzzle was almost in Braga’s face. “You and me, we’re not so different. You’re no hero.”

Dom braced the gun against his shoulder and tightened his finger on the trigger. “You’re right,” he said.

Brian glanced over again and saw that Braga had his eyes closed.

“And that’s why you’re going back across the border.”

Brian shot a surprised glance at Dom, but wasted no time moving forward and securing Braga’s hands behind his back.

“But Fenix is mine,” Dom cautioned.

“You got it,” Brian agreed, pulling Braga to his feet. He pushed Braga towards the back door, feeling Dom moving behind them, covering the front entrance, just in case.

When they reached the cars, he unceremoniously shoved Braga into the front seat, hitting the man’s head on the top of the car in the process. “Oops,” he said with a smirk when Braga complained.

He shut the door on whatever reply Braga may have made and went around to the driver’s side.

“Come on, Bri. Let’s get this asshole back to the border so we can find a motel to bunk down in for the night and I can fuck you through the mattress.”

Brian let his head drop back with a groan, knowing that those images, plus the adrenaline, would make the next couple of hours completely unbearable.

Dom just laughed and got into the Charger.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Word Count:** 1,589/24,838  
>  **Author’s Note:** Hey, Guys. So here’s the last chapter. I just wanted to say thanks sticking with me on this, even when it took me way longer to update than I said it would. Don’t worry, this isn’t the end of the ‘verse. I have three oneshot sequels written that I’ll post over the next week or so, and I’m working on a Fast Five sequel, as well as playing around with ideas for a Furious Six sequel and at least one more oneshot, possibly more.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what y’all think.  
> Fae

Chapter 21  
Brian led the way out of the city, with Dom right on his bumper.

 _“Yo, Bri, I’m picking up lots of chatter. Seems the goons have noticed their boss is gone. You may want to pick it up,”_ Austin said.

“You’ll make it a couple of miles out if you’re lucky,” Braga said, that damn smirk still firmly on his face.

_“Unfortunately, he’s probably right, if you say on the main roads. That’s what they’ll be expecting and they’ll have the federalis waiting to cut you off. Your best bet is to head out into the desert and hit the tunnels. Take a right.”_

Brian took a sharp right. He knew Dom would be confused, but he also knew that the other man would trust him. They were soon on the outskirts of the town, heading out into the desert.

Braga chuckled when he realized where they were going. “You sure you know where you’re going? You want to borrow my GPS?” He laughed again.

Brian merely glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, scanning for the pursuit. “Where are your boys at?” he asked, taunting. “Are they going to show up, or what?”

At that moment, they were surrounded by gunfire as half a dozen vehicles came from out of nowhere.

“Careful what you ask for,” Braga said with a sneer.

There were several long moments of silence where Brian concentrated fully on avoiding both the gunfire and the pursuit.

“Just stop. Just stop the car,” Braga said, chuckling slightly, before letting out a squeal of fright when the back window shattered.

The car directly behind them was suddenly rammed from the side and sent flipping over a small ravine in the landscape.

_“Right behind you!”_

Brian had never been so relieved to hear anyone’s voice in all his life. “Dom, head to the tunnel. Let’s use the tunnel,” he said into the radio, wanting Dom to know what the plan was.

He managed to keep the STI in a straight line when they were sideswiped. The other car pulled back to try again, but a blast from Dom’s shotgun sent the car spinning out of control.

_“Get out of here, Brian!”_

Didn’t have to tell him twice. Brian stepped on the gas, ignoring the pursuit and trusting Dom to deal with it as he headed for the tunnel.

 _“You’re almost on a direct line. Inch to the right just a little bit,”_ Austin said.

Brian swerved just slightly to the right.

_“You’re good.”_

“You sure you know where the tunnels are?” Braga asked, smirking again. “You sure?”

He clearly thought his men were going to get him out of this and Brian wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off his face. Unfortunately, he had to concentrate. If he didn’t hit the barrier at just the right angle, the car would go up in a spectacular fireball.

“Yeah, I’d hold on,” he said instead. “This might hurt.” He pressed the gas even farther down and they went crashing through the faux rock into the tunnel.

“You’re in my world now, Baby!” Braga exclaimed.

Brian mentally rolled his eyes, but kept his focus on the path in front of him. He had always had a good memory, but ever since the operation, he had noticed that his memory was almost eidetic, a fact that he was incredibly grateful for at the moment. He was going way too fast to second guess himself on the route, and he couldn’t afford to slow down.

He came to a fork, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember which way they had gone. He deliberated for half a second before jerking the car into the right fork, hoping and praying he had made the correct choice.

Fifty meters in, he realized that he had chosen the wrong way.

“That’s it, Baby!” Braga cried, way too excited and laid back for hurtling a hundred miles an hour at a solid rock wall. “End of the road. Now what? Game over!”

“No, no, no,” Brian chanted, frantically scanning for some way out of this without slamming on the breaks and being rear-ended by the goon behind them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of brown and reacted on instinct, jerking the car to the left and sending them crashing through the wood wall that had been built to separate the two tunnels. He got the car under control and pressed down on the pedal again.

The guys behind him continued to fire their weapons, and Braga continued sneering and smirking and snarking, and Brian just wanted him to shut the fuck up. He pulled his eyes away from the windshield for half a second to jab his elbow into Braga’s nose, shutting the man up.

Unfortunately, that half a second of inattention was enough and he swerved sharply to avoid a pillar, only to send the car into a spin. A second later, he was t-boned by a second car and went crashing through the barrier on the US side of the crossing.

The car rolled a good fifty meters and Brian was unable to brace himself as he went slamming into the roof, the window, the back of the seat and the steering wheel. When the car finally came to a stop, it was completely upside down and he was bent almost double on the roof.

He remained still, trying to regain his equilibrium and figure out where and how badly he was injured. When he finally felt he could move without hurling, he twisted so that he could kick out the door. He crawled his way out of the wreck on his hands and knees and tried to stand.

Before he could, Fenix came out of nowhere and kicked him in the stomach, sending him sprawling on his back. He lay there, contemplating the odds of being able to take Fenix down before getting shot.

Fenix cocked the gun, and he figured those chances weren’t so hot. Normally, he wouldn’t be concerned, but he was seeing two of the man, and wasn’t entirely sure which was the real Fenix.

A loud explosion distracted both of them and Brian looked back towards the tunnel opening to see a car come flying out. It wasn’t the Charger, but when the car went up on the back two wheels, Brian knew that somehow, Dom had managed to change cars in the middle of a high speed chase.

And Dom called _him_ crazy.

The car headed straight at Fenix, who fired two rounds at it, before realizing it would be in his best interests to move out of the way.

Brian was having none of that. Dom deserved this, so Brian forced himself to lunge for Fenix, wrapping his arms around the man’s leg and holding him in place. At the last possible second, he threw himself out of the way, just barely missing being run over.

He landed on his side and saw stars. He had to hold himself still to keep from throwing up. He heard the door slam shut and he rolled over with a groan. Seconds later, Dom was at his side.

“Hey, easy,” Dom said, crouching down next to him and helping him lean back against the tire. “Let me see that.” He took a look at the wound on Brian’s side, where he had been cut by the broken windshield in the crash. “Yeah, just keep pressure there.”

Brian was gulping in breaths of air, trying to remain conscious and upright. He could hear sirens in the distance. 

“You’ll be all right,” Dom said.

“You gotta get out of here.”

“I ain’t running anymore,” Dom said, shaking his head and keeping his hand on top of Brian’s.

Brian looked up at him for a long moment. “I gotta ask you something,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“You know I would have won that race if you didn’t cheat, right?” he asked, hoping to surprise a laugh out of the other man.

Dom chuckled slightly. “You hit your head hard,” he said.

Brian let out a chuckle of his own, but it turned to a wince. “Don’t make me laugh,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut. “Seriously, though,” he began again. “Did you mean it? Not even the Feds?”

The look in Dom’s eyes softened slightly. “Yeah, Bri,” he said, reaching out with his other hand and stroking Brian’s cheek. “I meant it.”

“Good.” With that, Brian leaned his head back and closed his eyes, trusting Dom to keep him safe until the sirens arrived.

Instead of resting, however, his mind was in overdrive, planning how to protect Dom. He may be Dom’s now, but the reverse was also true and Dom was his as well. And the other man had said he’d die before going back to LOMPOC.

There was no way Brian was letting either one of those things happen.

Oh, don’t get him wrong. He’d give the legal system a chance, but he knew it would let him down. It always did. Which meant that he needed plans, and back-up plans, and contingency plans for his back-up plans.

Well, perhaps not. He knew what he’d have to do to save Dom. It was going to completely and totally suck, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do for the other man. He would move heaven and earth if he had to.

Dominic Toretto would never see the inside of LOMPOC ever again if Brian had anything to say about it.


End file.
